Seals : Cause of his Damnation and Salvation
by crazyluffy
Summary: What if the Yondaime took steps to ensure the welfare of his son keeping in mind the consequences, if the villagers didn't honor his dying wish. Naruto x fem Haku.
1. The Martyr and the Summon

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto ... blah blah blah

A/N : In all the fics I've read either the Yondaime comes back to life miraculously or Naruto receives some scrolls when he turns chunin. What good will be the scrolls if he has horrible basics. It is shown that most of the clans start training their shinobis from an early age and naruto will just start at 13 and will kick everyone's ass is preposterous. Can a father who is hailed as a genius shinobi leave his son on a hope that the village people who have suffered greatly will look at his son as a hero? A shinobi who has a plan for everything and if that fail there is fail safe plan and if not that then there is an escape root, to think that Yondaime will not even be able to think of a situation where his son will live a dreadful life is stupid. This is only an idea with Yondaime being a bit more realistic.

Chapter 1 : The Martyr and the Summon

A lone man was standing in an empty training ground. The various emotions which were swirling inside of him were making his head hurt. The man known as "The Yellow Flash of Konoha" was completely at a loss at this point of time. A genius shinobi said to come once in a generation, was the youngest Kage till date and will be the youngest to die as well.

It has been two days since the great bijuu, Kyuubi no Kitsune was found to be heading straight to Konoha, destroying everything in its path. Since yesterday the shinobi force has been trying to stall the great demon from reaching the village in the hopes that their genius hokage will be able to defeat the demon, once he found a way. Now, hailed as a genius in the world of shinobis was not a big deal, almost every generation has a few of them but, Yondaime hokage of Konoha was called a genius, as recognition to his unparalleled knowledge in all spheres of shinobi skills, especially in Fujin jutsus and creation of new jutsus. He has already created two jutsus which has left the shinobi world baffled, as no one knows even the slightest clue of how they were created. The only exception to the said group was Jiraiya of the Sannin as he taught everything he knew to his protégé, Namikaze Minato, Yondaime hokage of Konoha. Thus, Yondaime confided in his sensei and even helped him learn one of his prized techniques, Rasengan. Hirashin (The Flying Thunder God technique), however he wanted to keep only for his clan and that would mean, for his son. However, even then Jiraiya knew that there were seals in the special three pronged kunais which the Yondaime used while using Hirashin.

Coming back to the situation at hand, Minato has already come up with a solution. After delving into the usage of seals for the better part of his shinobi life, he already knew the only way to contain the bijuus is through seals. However, what has left him stumped is that Kyuubi no Kitsune has been known to ignore the human race for a long time now and he couldn't fathom the reason behind its sudden appearance. Not knowing all the factors always irritated him, and all his shinobi instincts were screaming "foul play" at him. He was sure that something is amiss in the events of Kyuubi's attack. He has already modified Shiki Fujin jutsu to ensure that the jinchuuriki (human sacrifice for the container of the demon) in which he will seal the good part (well as much good a demon can be) of Kyuubi to have various benefits from the demon but above all to ensure the mental stability by making it impossible for the demon to influence the jinchuuriki. The evil part of the kyuubi, he will be sealing in himself and will be taking along to the stomach of the Shinigami.

All of this was well and fine, what was left for him to do was to find a new born baby to be the jinchuriki. As if the fate was trying to mock him, Kushina, his wife went into an early labor due to tension of the attack and the overwhelming feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra which has already washed over the entire village. Now, being a hokage he cannot ask someone else to sacrifice their baby if he is not willing to do the same. So, he will be making his son, Naruto ,the jinchuuriki and will die in the process. This would have been fine with him if his beloved wife wouldn't have died due to the complications during the delivery of the baby and weakened state of her body. Now, here he was standing alone after mourning for his wife for barely few minutes, as that is all he could give at this time and contemplating about what he is going to do. Once he is dead, Naruto will be all alone, with no one to look after him. As soon as he found that Kushina was going to die he took steps to ensure that no one gets to know Naruto's origin except two persons.

Sandaime was old and was easy to succumb to the council and his advisors, a good man at heart but he will not be able to look after his son, He was sure that Sarutobi will try his best to take care of Naruto but that won't be enough.

Jiraiya, with his frivolous nature will not be able to look after an infant and couple that with the grief of his death, Jiraiya will be gone from the village in no time.

With the only two people who know about Naruto being his son, being totally useless in taking care of him, Minato was very frightened for the life that awaits his son. All the previous known jinchuurikis have been know to have a lonely life lacking of all warmth and love that an infant should have rather their life knows only hate, fear and pain. The council and villagers will be after his son's life. They will hate his very existence. Human beings are fickle creatures and need to push the blame on someone for all their sorrows. In the aftermath of the Kyubi's attack they will look for a scapegoat and who better than the resident demon container. Danzo, the known "war - hawk" will know the power that a jinchuuriki can hold and with the greatest of all demons sealed in Naruto, the opportunities for him will be endless. He will try his best to turn him into a weapon. Hopefully, Sarutobi will be able to make sure that at least that doesn't happen as he has been against Danzo's view of creating mindless tools. He cannot be naive enough to think that Naruto will have friends growing up, that is actually going far, his son will be lucky enough to find kindness in this village. What can he do for his son? What can he do so that his son doesn't snap with all the hatred and become a cold hearted killer? Which won't be surprising with all the chakra of Kyuubi available to him, he will be powerful.

Kushina lost her family when the whirlpool village was destroyed. He is an orphan. All he had were his friends. That thought struck him like a sledge hammer. His mind started working at great speeds going over all the scenarios and all the things which he will need to pull this off. He started making preparations and gathering things. With the reports coming in, it seams that the Kyuubi is able to regenerate any injury it received, keeping that in mind he modified the seal to ensure the same gift is provided to his son. Also, a very small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra will be converted and added to his son's chakra pool, he can only imagine what will be the effects of addition of such potent chakra into Naruto's coils. With all the preparations done, Minato made a cut in his hand followed by making the seals and gathering the chakra required and said "**Kuchiyose no jutsu**" after slamming his hand on the ground. A large cloud was generated which was blown away by a gentle breeze which was accompanied by grey tobacco smoke. After some time a huge toad was seen with a pipe in his mouth and sword on his side and Yondaime standing on top of him. Minato leaped off the toad's head to land in front of him.

"Yo Gamabunta-sama!" said Minato.

**"Sigh! How many times do I have to tell you to call me Bunta, Minato"** said the huge toad.

"Hai Hai" said Minato in an evasive manner while shaking his right hand all the while giving a grin in a way which suggests that he does this every time for fun.

**"So Minato, I don't see any opponents or ongoing battle for which you need my help. Apart from this feeling of vile chakra in the air and that stupid mask of happiness on your face, I don't see anything wrong around here"**, said Bunta sarcastically. **"Tell me Minato, what did you do to land yourself in deep shit."**

"Sigh! As sharp as ever, Bunta. I wonder how you keep on seeing through my masks?" said Minato with a pout, can an adult even pout?

**"Che! You don't grow, as old as me to be so easily fooled by morons like you" **said Bunta.

Minato suddenly grew serious as he was running out of time and produced a bundle of cloth from behind his back to reveal a sleeping baby. The baby opened his beautiful sky blue eyes and gurgled happily in his father's arms. "Bunta, meet my son, Uzumaki Naruto."

Bunta smiled at the little tyke and said **"So, Kushina finally agreed, huh! You have a beautiful son, Minato. Wait, did you say 'Uzumaki'?" **asked a confused and a little suspicious Bunta.

Minato sighed and started explaining everything, "Bunta, Kushina passed away an hour back due to complications in the delivery. I want to keep Naruto's origin a secret from the world as I have a lot of enemies, inside and outside of the village. Only Jiraiya and Sarutobi are aware of this but in the days to come they will not be very helpful to my son. As you can feel the vile chakra, it is from the great bijuu Kyuubi who has almost reached the outskirts of Konoha and is destroying everything in its path. I've come up with a way to defeat him but I'll die while doing so. I'll be sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto. Do you see where I'm going with this, Bunta?"

Bunta was speechless after hearing this. He was really sad that the beautiful red headed woman passed away but he was shocked that the man he considers one of his best friends will be dying today as well. He was sure that he will be there when Minato will be facing the Kyuubi but then he thought of Naruto and was appalled at his situation, he was no stranger to the fate of jinchuurikis, **"Orphan the day he is born and you're making your son into a jinchuuriki. Even if you are their hero but the village will ostracize your son. His life is going to be very sad. Isn't there any other way, Minato?"**asked Bunta with a heavy heart.

"There is no other choice, Bunta. I know what you're saying that is why the fact he is my son will not be made public to ward off the assassination attempts. I am very sure he will lead a very painful and lonely life. That is why I've called for you, old friend." said the distressed kage.

**"I'm always happy to help you, Minato."**

"First, I request that Naruto to be allowed to sign the Toad contract so that he is able to call on your clan whenever he likes. Who knows when will Jiraiya come back to the village and let him sign it" asked Minato.

**"That should not be a problem, after all he is your son. That alone will not be of any help, Minato because who will teach him to summon?"**asked Bunta.

"For that purpose I've created this seal and with your permission if you allow the sacrifice to be only blood till he turns seven, it can take care of the hand seals required for summoning. He will be able to summon one of your kinds as a companion till that time. In that way he will be sure to have a friend. As you said, Bunta, his life will be painful and lonely, if he has even one friend then he will be able to stay sane. By the time he turns seven, I'm sure he will be able to call forth his chakra. If you allow this to happen, I can draw this seal on his arm with a drop of his blood which will be set to be time-released three years from now." asked Minato with desperation clear in his voice.

**"You sure are a genius, Minato. This is a great idea. Gamakichi is just born and I'm sure with you and Kushina as his parents, Naruto and Gamakichi will have a great time together. I'll allow it for you, my old friend."**

Minato let out a breath of relief and once again summoned another toad. This time a toad appeared of the height of Minato who opened his mouth and unrolled his tongue to show a huge scroll. Minato took the scroll and opened it. After this he took out a kunai and made a small cut on Naruto's thumb. Naruto immediately started crying and Minato hurriedly wrote "Namikaze Naruto" just next to his name. Minato hurriedly healed the cut and started soothing the baby. The toad took the scroll and addressed respectfully to Bunta, "Gamabunta-sama" and poofed out of existence.

Minato took out a scroll, turned towards Bunta again and said, "Arigato Bunta, I am really grateful to you for doing this. I've one last favor to ask of you. Please, give this scroll to Gamakichi to give it to Naruto on his sixth birthday. I'm in your debt, as I'll no longer be able to return it after today, you can ask Naruto once he understands everything."

**"Che! No need to be so dramatic, Minato. I will make sure that he gets the scroll when he turns six. You owe me nothing. It was only a small thing and it has been an honor to fight with you. I await Naruto to summon me. I'll make him sweat like a pig before allowing him to summon me again, HA HA!" **joked Bunta after he took the scroll and hid it somewhere on his person.

Minato drew the seal for containing the Kyubi on Naruto's stomach. Naruto was gurgling happily as if the brush was tickling him. After drawing the seal Minato kissed his son's head and said " I love you, Naruto. Kushina loved you. For what its worth, I am very sorry for the burden I'm about to put on you. Live well, my son."

With everything done he hopped on Bunta's head and said "Its time Bunta. Lets go and kick some demon ass."

Nothing more was left to be said. The greatest hero of konoha, who will become a martyr on this day and his summon hopped off to the battle.

A/N : As you can see, I'm not very good at writing this. I do not mind if someone else take this up. I' ve the story line till Chunin exams in my mind so not that big a problem. I'll be happy if someone wants to help in the writing part. Naruto will be smart and will be strong but he will earn his strength. No bloodline or doujutsu. No yaoi. There will be a little bashing. The pairing will be Naruto x female Haku. Their past is very much alike and they understand the pain of loneliness. I just love this pairing. Having said this, this will be a Naruto - centric fic. So, the side - plot will only be given in a summary kind of way.


	2. I'm a freaking toad!

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto … blah blah blah !

A/N : Sorry about few mistakes in the previous chapter and I'm way too lazy to make the changes and re - post it. When Minato is explaining the summoning seal to Bunta, the words "sane. Till" went missing in the 3rd line. So essentially Minato was telling him that having a friend will help Naruto to remain sane. Also, by the time he turns seven he will be able to access his chakra and requirements of the seal will be modified. Now, on with the next chapter.

Chapter 2 : I'm a freaking toad!!

It has been three years since that fateful day. The aftermath of the Kyubi's attack left the village facing with a lot of property destruction which eventually led to monetary loss to the village. Also, in the battle the village lost a lot of strong shinobis which seriously put a dent in the millitary strength of Konoha. So Konoha, which was once the strongest of the elemental nations was being viewed as a vulnerable village. This resulted in hesitation from clients in hiring of the village's shinobi for missions. All this put together portrayed a hollow picture of the village.

Inspite of the aforementioned glaring shortcomings, the village still stood strong and was doing its best to reach its former glory, though they have a long road ahead of them. Strength is a very relative term. One is always stronger or weaker than someone. There are no absolutes in strength cause everything has a weakness. This was the reason that Konoha had respite against attacks from other villages.

Iwagakure, even though had a great military strength, its numbers have been decimated in the Third Great Shinobi War. Even after 5 years they were still picking up the pieces of their pride and shinobi alike. Thus, even though the fire of revenge was burning in Iwa shinobis, they were still helpless. The only silver lining for them was that next time they won't have to face the Yellow Flash of Konoha.

Kumogakure was an ally of Iwa in the Third Great Shinobi War and has suffered if not equally then quite significantly. If Yellow Flash was Iwa's curse then Hyuga clan was Kumo's. Kumo's armies were picked apart by the byakugan wielding Hyugas mercilessly. This resulted in deep resentment of the doujutsu Byakugan in Kumo shinobis.

Sunagakure was Konoha's ally. Now shinobi villages remain allies only till they don't feel threatened by each other. Konoha was always seen as a pacifist state while Suna always believed in quality over numbers. Konoha's shinobis were very good and they still had the advantage in numbers. So, for the time being the probability of an attack from Suna was minimal.

Kirigakure was engulfed in its own civil war. It has cut all interactions from the outer world and the world was ignoring them till they are able to stabilize their situation.

Rebuilding of Konoha's strength was a tedius and tiring process. The shinobis took riskier missions to reinstate Konoha's powress. In order to stabilize the economy the merchants were given more rights and thus resulted in more powers in the hand of the civilian part of the council. Even though all this took its toll on the shinobi poppulation but the lull after the Third Great Shinobi War and Kyubi's attack was a welcome relief.

One would think how this relates to our oblivious hero. There are no obvious relations. However, the emotions of the villagers and shinobi alike, hasn't been taken into consideration. After the death of Yondaime, Sandaime, Sarutobi Hizuren became Hokage again. His appointment was unopposed because even as he was moving ahead in age, he was still the strongest shinobi in the village considering that the remaining two - thirds of the Sannin were not present in the village. His willingness to take the mantle of Hokage was also comforting to the village as he was not known as the "Professor" for nothing.

Sarutobi tried to comply with his predecessor's wish of making Naruto viewed as a Hero. He told the village of what the Yondaime did to defeat Kyubi. This resulted in a very many different reactions. There were very few people who actually thought of him as a hero. The shinobis and the civillians alike were hurt to a great extent. Everyone lost someone or the other dear to them. If that is not enough, everyones livelihood was affected. Most of the shinobis were indifferent towards the jinchuriki but the resentment was still there under the apathetic reaction. However accomplished a seal master the Yondaime was acknowledged to be, it still was not enough to dispel the doubts abouts the effectiveness of the seal, after all it was the greatest of the demon which was sealed. It was not comprehensible that such a huge harbringer of devastation can be contained in a small baby. Couple this with the fact that the details of the sealing jutsu was not made public due to the possibilities of others like Orochimaru to bastardize the jutsu to server their purpose. Human beings are always wary, if not afraid, of the thing they cannot understand.

The civilians didn't have any doubts, they were just plainly after the demon's blood, as they see Naruto as the demon re-incarnate. Thankfully the council was not completely made of civilians otherwise our hero would have died the very next day of his birth. This still posed a huge problem and combined with the shinobis' wariness, ensured that Naruto be left alone and given to an orphanage. Sarutobi was against it but he was too soft to win a political battle on so many fronts. This called for a compromise, which resulted in a 24x7 ANBU guard for Naruto to ensure he is not assassinated but Sarutobi cannot interfere in any other way. He had to agree cause the alternative was worse.

Danzo proposed to turn the "jinchuriki" into an emotionless weapon. Now everyone thinks that Danzo just wanted war but Danzo was not that ignorant. He always knew that an emotionless weapon was only that, a weapon. It has to be wielded. He just wanted to ensure that Konoha remains strong. His philosophy was that if few have to sacrifice their emotions so the village stays strong then he will ensure that happens and keep saving the village from the shadows. He had complete faith in Sarutobi's strength but Hokages do not fight battles, the soldiers do. That was what he wanted Naruto to be, an efficient soldier. This was not entirely supported by the shinobi clans as if such a powerful weapon snaps, it will be the end of them. Thus came the compromise. Politics is all about compromises. Take what you can and give them nothing.

Thus, Naruto was left at the orphanage with no one to care for him. But, Sarutobi had the final say, or so he thought. He made the law that no one is to mention about the Kyubi, breaking the law was made a capital crime. That did not take care of the hate of the villagers which will be the bane of our hero's existence.

The caretakers at the orphanage were always under strict scrutiny to ensure that there was no overt harm to Naruto. This however, didn't stop them from whispering to other kids to stay away from him. By the age of two, Naruto was always left alone in his room or on the playground with no toys or anything. He was just existing. He was not starved but he was not given a lot of food. He had no possessions apart from two set of clothes. All in all it was a lonely existence. The ANBU guard only ensured that no one harms him, apart from that he was not even bothered as they all had their own problems. Sarutobi received regular reports from the ANBU and thought everything was fine and only visited Naruto on his birthday or if he could take out time once in a month or two as he was always busy trying to bring Konoha back to its previous glory.

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This brings us to our hero.

Naruto was a happy child. He always found something or the other to amuse him. If on the playground, he was content in observing various things. He would look at the clouds, the various colors in the sky as the weather changes or sun changes positions. He would look at all the colourful flowers. He would look at the various types of clothes people wore. He was fascinated with all this. As no one talked to him or told him anything then his curiosity was never sated. He was a bundle of energy, always running somewhere or the other.

He always tried to talk to others, adults and children alike but he was always ignored. His earliest memories of his interaction with others was rejection. He could only remember everyone looking at him in such a way that he didn't want to go near to them. Even though he didn't know what was happening, but by the time he turned 3 understood that no one wanted to talk to him for some reason. The only person who talked to him was a very old man who wore a white robe with a strange white hat. Whenever he would come to meet him Naruto felt very happy. It filled the ever increasing void of loneliness, even if by only a little amount. By the time he turned 3 he only smiled or laughed or shouted or pouted only in the presence of that weird old man in white clothes. Being lonely was painful but it made him a very observant child. He learnt about everything he knew by observing others.

Today was his 3rd birthday and he had a lot of fun with the "old man" as he loves to call him. Now, he was back to loneliness. When he is all alone, he thinks about a lot of things.

'Why no one likes me? Why no one talks to me? Why do they call me a monster? Eto .. what _is_ a monster? Why do when adults come to adopt other kids, they don't even look at me for more than a second? People are weird. Am I not a good person? But, old man said that I'm a very good boy. Everyone like the old man. He must be a good person and good people don't lie or so the old man says. Ehhhh ... all this is too confusing. When I ask the old man, he says you will understand when you will grow up. Che baka - oji but a good baka. How will I understand something if no one tells me anything?'

As it is becoming clear Naruto is smart and observant. Being lonely ensured that he thinks about things. All the makings of a good shinobi. His life was depressing. He was constantly sad. He wondered if he will every have any "friends".

'Others look so happy when they talk to each other. I heard them say that they were friends. I thought what is a friend. I heard the matron telling them that a friend is someone who plays with you and makes you happy. I thought then I've only one friend, the old man. When I asked him, he started laughing and ruffled my head and said "Of course I'm your friend Naruto-kun", baka oji ... hmph!. I wish I have more friends then I will also have fun. I will also play with them.'

As he was drifting off to sleep, he felt a tingling sensation on his right arm. When he looked at it, he saw that a weird drawing was there on the inside of his left forearm. It was glowing too. 'I have never seen this. Where did this come from? Did the old man put it on me?' This chain of thoughts was broken by a soft poofing sound and he saw a white cloud in front of him. He started waving his hands frantically to disperse the smoke. When the air in front of him cleared up there was a very strange sight. There was a frog sucking on a candy.

"Ehhhh !" was the only reaction Naruto could give.

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Gamakichi was having a nice time with his pops. Pops just gave him his favourite candy was telling him about his current summoner about how he regularly gets beaten by angry women and they were having a good laugh. Suddenly he felt that his body was being sucked to somewhere.

"**Oye pops .... its happening**" said Gamakichi.

"**Take care of yourself kiddo and dispel yourself when you have to come back as I taught you. Be sure to explain him how to call you again, Kichi. Don't forget it or no candy for you till he summons you again.**" warned Bunta.

That was all he heard before poofed out of the summon's plane. He knew he was going on the plane of humans. Pops explained it to him around a month back that he will be summoned in a months time and he will meet a blond boy who is their newest summoner. He always wanted to meet a human. He wondered if they will become friends. But he will tell him everything pops told him, yes sir he loved his candies a lot, thank you very much.

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"**Yo!**" said the amused toad to the startled blond hero.

This amazed Naruto even more he has never seen an animal speak. The freaking frog came out of no where and it spoke. His young mind could not articulate a better response than ..

"A speaking frog !!" said Naruto.

"**I'm not a frog, I am a freaking toad, you dimwit!!**" said Gamakichi.

"A toad? How can you speak? Why are you here anyways? How did you come here?" Naruto was asking questions left and right. Then his face suddenly became stricken and suddenly said in hushed voice "Please speak in low volume. They don't like it when I make noise."

Gamakichi was fascinated with this human. He was entertaining. He tried to answer Naruto's questions, "**I'm a summon. Summons are not like animals. We are different. Before you ask me how, I dunno. I'm not that old that I've all the answers, you know. I came here because of the seal on your hand**" replied Gamakichi.

Now, Naruto was a smart boy but all this was a lot to take in. So this was a summon but he was still confused. 'What is this seal he was talking about?' Then he remembered that tingling feeling on his hand before this "summon" came here. There was a wierd drawing still present there. "Ne ... what is a seal? How did that make you come here?"

**"Eh ... how do I know what seals are? I just know that they are weird drawings. Pops said he will tell me more about them when I grow up. For anything serious he says the same thing.**" said Gamakichi.

"I know what you mean, oji-san also keeps on saying that I'll understand when I'll grow up. Makes me wish that I grow up soon." replied Naruto.

"**Eh ... why would you want to grow up so soon? You can have so much fun now. You make friends, laugh, joke, eat candies and do so many things. When you grow up you become serious like pops.**" said Gamakichi.

"I don't have any friends. No one plays with me. No one even talks to me except oji-san." murmured a sad Naruto while looking towards the floor.

Gamakichi was astonished to hear that this human didn't have any friends. That is just sad. He decided right then that he will become friends with this human, 'He is so interesting and so lonely', he thought. He said to the human "**Yo, I'll be your friend. I like you but you will have to give me candy**"

Naruto was ecstatic to find that this "summon" was willing to be his friend when no one else wanted to be. He felt something in himself. He didn't know what this feeling was. Later in life he will understand that the feeling was "hope". Hope that there are still people/summons out there who may become his friends. The mere feeling was overwhelming to him. After being lonely for such a long time, he was literally starving for companionship.

"Really! You will be my friend? I am so happy. We will have so much fun together. Ne ne .. what is your name?" said Naruto excitedly, after all he was still a child. His excitement was bubbling.

"**My name is Gamakichi. What is your name?**" asked an amused Gamakichi.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. You have weird name .. it is so long ... Ga-ma-ki-chi." said Naruto cheekily.

"**Oye don't make fun of my name 'fishcake'.**" said Gamakichi indignantly but then saw Naruto's smile and smiled himself.

"Oye 'froggy' ! Its not 'fishcake', its 'maelstorm'" replied Naruto indignantly.

"**Do you even know the meaning of the word 'maelstorm', baka?**" retorted the summon sarcastically.

"No" replied Naruto sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. Then both started laughing. Both of them found this too much fun.

This started a very long friendship. For another two hours they kept on talking about various things. Naruto told him about the old man. He told him about how everyone else treated him but reassured the toad that he was happy now that he has a new friend. Gamakichi in turn told him about the place where he lived. He told him about pops and mama. Soon it was time for Naruto to sleep and thus for Gamakichi to go back.

"You will come again ... na, Gamakichi" asked an apprehensive Naruto.

"**Of course, Naruto. After all we are friends now. You will just have to call me and 'poof' I'll be here.**" said Gamakichi.

Naruto sighed with relief after Gamakichi's reassurance. He didn't want to lose his only friend apart from oji-san. Suddenly he realised something. "Ne ... Gamakichi, how am I supposed to call you?" asked a confused Naruto.

Gamakichi slapped his forehead with his webbed hand. He forgot to tell Naruto what pop asked him. He almost lost his precious candies. He will thank Naruto later for that. He loved his candies. "**Sorry Naruto, I forgot to tell you that. This is important so keep it in mind. Firstly, you have to keep my presence totally secret. No one should know or they will get suspicious. The summons are very secretive and selective. Why is this the case I dunno yet. Pops said he will tell me when I grow up, again. But this is so much fun, this is one thing that no one will know, only you would know. And as you said that no one wants to become your friends, we will be like secret best friends. hehe**" said Gamakichi.

"You sure are smart Gamakichi. This secret thing will be so much fun. We will fool everyone." replied Naruto excitedly.

"**I know I'm smart, baka. Now bow to your superior**" replied Gamakichi haughtily. Naruto just smiled. He was too happy to have a friend to reply right now. "**Oh yeah, before I forget. You have to rub a little of your blood on the seal whenever you want to call me.**" said Gamakichi. Naruto nodded to that. He was feeling sleepy.

Gamakichi smiled and said "**Ja Ne**" and poofed out of existence.

After a long time in his short life, Naruto slept with a smile on his face.


	3. Vindictive Reality

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto .... blah blah blah !

A/N : Sorry for the delay folks but I was busy these past days. Also as I use my friend's laptop, I was unable to write the next chapter as it was not free. Anyways, one thing I think I missed out mentioning in the previous chapter is that how did Naruto know about what his name means. I guess at some point Sandaime told him during one of the various visits. Another thing I would like to know is who all should be there in Naruto's team. They can be either the original Team 7, where he will deceive everyone or they can be someone like Shikamaru and Chouzi/Hinata to make it appear as if it is team of "losers", where he will start befriending others as they will treat him with respect or at least without disdain. Just lemme know even though the said issue will not be required to be addressed for at least one more chapter and by default it will be the original Team 7. Just so you know Naruto will be quite significantly OC. One thing I wanted to clear up. As humans and summons talk in the same language, use chakra, know about seals and things like that, I am assuming that they use the same language whether spoken or written. Lets get on with the chapter.

"Naruto" ... human speaking

"**Naruto**" ... summon speaking

'_Naruto_' ... human thinking

'**_Naruto_**' ... summon thinking

**Chapter 3 : Vindictive Reality**

Things were never the same for anyone since that fateful night of 10th October the third (since Naruto's birth). Proprietors at the orphanage saw Naruto seldomly. This brought happiness to some, suspicions to some others and indifference to the remaining. Sandaime found Naruto calmer but happier than before. Earlier, Naruto was hyperactive in Sarutobi's presence and always trying to get his attention. However, now he was just content in being with him. This relieved Sarutobi a lot as he was always worried about Naruto but he was a little confused as well about what brought this change. He thought may be Naruto made a friend at the orphanage. He couldn't be farther from or nearer to the truth.

Naruto stopped talking to anyone in the orphanage. Well, rather he stopped making the few attempts to talk to others which he used to make consistently. He started spending more time in his room and outside where no one can see him. He would summon Gamakichi everyday. They did a lot of things together. They went out of the orphanage to play in the park adjacent to it. Now that Naruto had a friend with him he need not bother other children and others were anyways told to leave him alone. They would look at the sunset and Gamakichi would tell him the stories his dad told him. Naruto also had a lot of fun hearing about Jiraiya getting beaten by women. On one such day Gamakichi taught Naruto how to play rock - paper - scissors.

"**Oye Naruto, lets play rock - paper - scissors**", said the toad.

"Eh! What is that Kichi?", asked Naruto.

"**Oh! You play it with your hands. You see when you make a fist, its called 'rock'. When you open your palm, its called 'paper'. When you hold only two fingers open then its called 'scissors'**",explained the toad.

"Hey Kichi, what is a scissor?" asked a confused Naruto.

"**Scissor .. uh ... scissors are ... uh ... is .. whatever used to cut paper. You see pops said this game is all about knowing the strength and weakness. He said something about that the same is applicable to 'elementer chakra' or something but well it went way over my head. He said he will properly explain it later. Scissors can cut paper but not rock thats why it wins over paper but loses to rock. Paper can wrap around rock so it wins over the rock. When you play, we hold our hands by making fists and say 'jan - ken - pon' and at the end we bring our hands down and hold them in either rock, paper or scissors form and see who wins. You ready?**" asked Gamakichi.

"Yeah!" answered Naruto enthusiastically. They played few games and Naruto lost everytime. Naruto was getting irritated and Kichi was having a great time in taking the mickey out of Naruto.

"**Oye fishcake, you suck man!**" teased Kichi.

"Don't call me that, froggy!" said Naruto indignantly getting back to their old insults. Then he realised something. "You know Kichi, no wonder you are a froggy, you cheater. As your hands are webbed that too with fewer fingers you change your option at the last moment between paper and scissors and I didn't catch it." Naruto pointed out.

Gamakichi jumped on Naruto's head while wondering, '_Shit! __**Naruto sure is observant but that doesn't mean he can mess with me huh!**_' Gamakichi replied, "**You sure are a sore loser pipsqueak. In the world of shinobis there is no such thing as cheating, you use any advantage you have. Don't be a cry baby.**" said Gamakichi haughtily.

"What is a shinobi?" asked Naruto inquisitively. This was followed by an explanation by Gamakichi about shinobis. He told Naruto everything pops told him. Naruto thought shinobis were interesting and was surprised that summons and shinobis fight together. He was still confused as Kichi also knew so much as a young toad can. Neverthless he did get to know that their purpose was to protectand fight for others. Anyways so went the days of the youngest toad summoner.

After around four months since he met Kichi, Naruto was sitting in his room early in the morning. He was wondering when he should summon Kichi. They have decided that he would summon Kichi for two hours each time in the morning, evening and in the night so that Kichi spends enough time with his family as well. Naruto was just happy to have companionship for even such a small time. For the remaining time, he would do what he always did, observe, things and people alike. Now as he was about to get up from his bed, he felt a strange tingling sensation in his right palm. After summoning Gamakichi so many times he was quite familiar with the feeling of a seal activating.

'_What the hell !! I didn't summon Kichi yet. Wait a minute, the "seal", as Kichi told it was called, is on my left hand's wrist so why is the feeling coming from the other hand._'

Curiosity about what was the cause behind it was making him excited and nervous at the same time. So, imagine his surprise when suddenly a box appeared on his hand with a "poof". He hurriedly opened it to find it was filled with books, the kind of which he had seen the caretakers at the orphange giving to other kids so they can learn to read and write. He was excited. He always wanted to learn to read and wirte but everytime he tried to get the books, he was sent back to his room.

'_Wow! I never thought I will be able to get books. I'll be able to read and write now but what if they find out that I've these books. It will be like last time, when they saw me holding a book they took it away and told me never to touch them again. I will have to hide them. Yeah that should take care of the problem, if they won't see them then they won't take them away. Anyways they never come into my room. I will use them only when I'm in my room, alone or with Kichi._' thought Naruto. He will never realise that this was the starting point in his life when he started hiding things from anyone he didn't trust. Unfortunately, he will only trust Kichi and Sarutobi for a very long time.

Later in the morning when Kichi was summoned, he found Naruto was unusually excited. He asked "**Yo Naruto, whats got you so excited?**"

"Hey Kichi, see another seal activated today and I suddenly found this box in my hand. It is filled with books. You know what this means, right? I can finally learn to read and write. Yippie!" replied a head over heels Naruto.

"**You don't know how to read and write? You should have said so, I would have helped you.**" said Gamakichi but then realised why exactly Naruto doesn't know it. "**No worries, I will help you now anyways. Pops always says that when you start learning something new then you should know the basics properly. So what you have to keep in mind is that don't go looking over all the books at once. We will start from alphabets and go from there. I will help you for an hour everyday and then we will enjoy ourselves. You can keep learning when I'm not here. You will be up to speed in no time. Savvy?**" asked Kichi. '_**I will have to tell pops about this second seal. He never said that something like this will happen**_' thought Kichi.

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When Gamakichi returned to the summon world, he approached Gamabunta.

"**Yo pops.**"greeted Gamakichi.

"**Oh, you're back Kichi. How was your day with Naruto?**" inquired Gamabunta.

"**It was amazing pops. I had a lot of fun with him as usual. But, today I also found that Naruto didn't know how to read or write. I was very surprised but then remembered that no one likes him at the orphanage so no one helps him.**" told Kichi sadly.

'_Are these the kind of people you sacrificed your son for, Minato? Che! they treat your son like a leper. I wonder what will happen to him once he leaves the orphanage._' thought Bunta disgusted with the treatment of his favourite summoner's son. "**He must have had the books, wasn't he able to learn even a little by himself?**" asked Bunta.

"**The stupid humans who are supposed to take care of him didn't even give him any books rather if they ever found him with a book they would snatch it away from him. Anyways, something unexpected happend today. When I was summoned today, Naruto told me that another seal activated today and a box poofed out of it. In it were a lot of books which are used to learn how to read and write. Also there were a lot picture and story books. You didn't tell me that something like this would happen.**" stated Kichi curiously.

'_You crafty little bastard, Minato. You took precautions that Naruto isn't hindered by the villagers' stupidity. I wonder what else have you done. I'm sure it will be amusing to find hehe._' thought a surprised Bunta. "** I didn't know anything about it, Kichi. I was only aware of the summoning seal. Do keep me informed if something like this happens again. It makes me happy to hear that the gaki is not without any help.**" said Bunta.

**"Sure thing, Pops.**"

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Thus Naruto started learning how to read and write with the help of Kichi. He was a quick learner and soon finished learning everything from the books in two months. Apart from the normal books there were story books, picture books, etc for his entertainment. He found them really interesting and he always read them in the night before he slept. For the next month as he didn't have anything else to read and started going over things again or read the story books again or discussed what Kichi was learning. Then the seal suddenly activated again and he found that he had more books. So every 3 to 4 months he would get new books to learn from. They would just appear from the seal with a "poof".

He was really grateful for the two seals as they changed his life. He used to wonder to himself '_How did I get the seals? Does everyone have these seals? No, Kichi said that summons are very secretive and selective. He also mentioned that only shinobis have the knowledge about seals. So, who did this for me? Was it the old man? Nah! he gives me things when we meet so it wasn't him. He doesn't even know about Kichi, after all this is our secret. Should I ask him about it? No, what if he doesn't like the seals? What should I do? I am really grateful for the person who did this for me. I will thank him whenever I will meet him. May be it was my tou-san but all who live here do not have parents. What happened to mine? May be that I will ask the old man as most children have parents. I wish I had parents then atleast someone would like me apart from Kichi and old man._'

It was Naruto's fourth birthday and he had a nice time with the old man in the morning. Now he was back at the orphanage. Alone, again. This didn't dampen his mood as he knew that he will be summoning Kichi in few minutes. As he was with the old man for the day, he made sure that when old man was buying sweets for him he requested him to get some more for him. Although, there was no need to tell him that they were for Kichi. '_I'm sure Kichi will be surprised ... hehe. He loves eating candies._' he thought happily.

He summoned Gamakichi just about two hours from midnight. He wanted to spend the final moments of his birthday with his best and only friend.

"**Yo Naruto, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.**" shouted the excited toad cheerfully.

"Thanx Kichi. You know coming from you it means a lot to me." said Naruto with his most honest smile. "Hey! When I met ji - san today I asked him to buy extra candy for me. I saved half of them for you. I know you love them" said Naruto excitedly and took out the sweets from where he was hiding them. No point in showing everyone that he had sweets or they would have been taken away.

Gamakichi was surprised and touched deeply by this gesture. He knew that Naruto only receives such treats from the old man and that too occasionally. To share them with him just showed how good friends they have become. Its a good thing that he got a present for him as well.

"**Thanx Naruto, you definitely know how to take care of your friends. Well, don't make fun of it but I got a present for you.**" said Kichi nervously as he handed a small box to Naruto. He knew that the old man gives Naruto some cash every time he comes to meet him so that Naruto can buy things for himself occasionally. What the old man didn't know was that Naruto kept all that cash safe with him. He once tried to buy a candy from a vendor and he was rudely refused.

Naruto was bubbling with excitement because it was his first gift. The old man never gave him a gift as he always took him out for the day and they had food outside, went to the par, watched a movie, etc. Naruto opened the box tentatively and found a cute wallet which was made out in the shape of a toad. He picked it up and held it reverently.

"**I know you keep all the money given by the old man in a sock. I thought may be you would like to have a wallet to keep it properly.**" explained Kichi.

Naruto replied with tears in his eyes and a very bright smile on his face "Thank you Kichi. This is my first gift and I will treasure it. I will call it 'Gama - chan'. What do you think?"

"**Sounds cool to me.**" Gamakichi couldn't say anything else. He has never seen Naruto cry. Making fun of that was just so wrong.

"Lets go to our special place Kichi. When I was returning with the old man I saw that the sky was looking beautiful tonight." suggested Naruto. Naruto picked him and silently made his way to the terrace. Everyone was asleep by this time. So he made sure that he made no noise so that they get caught. Once they reached the terrace they both took a deep breath of the fresh night air and breathed it out with a sigh. Naruto layed down and put Gamakichi on his chest and looked at the beautiful stars filled sky. They both loved being in the open. Gamakichi being a toad was instinctively attuned to the nature, they live in the wild. Naruto being a lonely child found nature to be soothing which helped him take his mind off depressing topics as he just found it too beautiful.

Naruto took out the sweets which he saved and offered them to his friend. Kichi took half of them and returned the other half back and said "**Its tastes better when shared. Anyways you gotta gimme company. Don't we do everything together, baka?**" Naruto took them and they passed time eating the sweets and looking at the stars.

Soon it was time for Kichi to go. "**Its time for me to go, Naruto. Happy birthday once again. Hope you enjoyed it**"

"Of course I enjoyed it, you moron. Since I have met you my life has been amazing"

"**It has been a year since we met, huh! Time just flew man. I remember it just like yesterday when we first met and you had such a dumb expression on your face ... haha.**"

"You don't have to rub it in, Kichi. I was just so confused" whined Naruto.

"**I know, I know. Don't be a cry baby. Anyways its time, see ya tomorrow dude. Nighty night.**" said Kichi and poofed out of there.

Naruto went to bed with a smile on his face, all the time thinking about how his life has changed in the past one year.

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Sarutobi was pissed off. For the past two months the care takers at the orphanage were pushing him regularly to remove Naruto from the orphanage. Their argument was that Naruto's presence was hindering the chances of others to be adopted as his being there was like a negative publicity. If that was not enough the civillian council also got involved with it somehow and now he was being pressurised by the council as well. Even though most of the shinobi council kept themselves uninvolved with the issues when Naruto was concerned, there was still a faction, even though a small one, which was supporting this proposition. So, he had no option but to cave into their demands. Now, he was busy working out the details of what was he supposed to do with Naruto. He was finally able to acquire an apartment for him, even though it was in the poorer section of the village. Everywhere else as soon as they realised that the apartment was for Naruto, they started making excuses. He made sure that the rent was to be delivered regularly every month. He would also need to provide Naruto with a monthly stipend. He will tell Naruto to tell him if he needed it to be increased which he planned to do yearly as a growing child needs a lot of things. He will keep the ANBU guard as well. There was no harm in being cautious. Minato already took care of the expenditure by opening a trust fund for Naruto so he will not have to do some hand - twisting to obtain the funds. All that was left for him was to explain everything to Naruto and to show him the various aspects of staying alone which he was needed to know.

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It has been a month since the old man gave him his own apartment. It was not much but it was better than his small room at the orphanage and the freedom agreed with him. At first he was very happy and excited. He thought that now that he was free and no one was always there to scold him or restrict him in any way, his life would be good. That was not the case, though.

Everytime he walked in the village, he got the same feeling of hatred he used to get at orphange, only difference was that now it was many folds more and was felt from every direction. Every shop he entered, he was rudely kicked out. If he tried to eat at a restraunt, no one served him food. If he tried to buy food from a vendor, he was ignored and even at times slapped, kicked or thrown away. When he tried to buy fruits, either he was denied or given spoiled fruits or given at a much higher price.

This was turning out to be a problem. He was starving almost everyday. In only a week "Gama - chan" became considerably lighter because even the meager food which he was able to get was way too expensive. The old man visited after the first week and when found his kitchen empty of food, stocked it up and advised him to store some food at home thinking that he forgot about it. He also provided with few simple recipies which he can make without problem. He took care that he ate only enough from the food stocked up from the old man so that it lasts for a long time.

In the second week he came across a ramen stand called Ichiraku's and was pleasantly surprised that he was not attacked or ignored. Rather, he was treated like anyone else. He found out what ramen was and have been having atleast a meal daily there. He could not afford to any more than that if he wanted to survive on the money he had left after all it was still expensive if not overpriced. What surprised him even more was that the shop owner always smiled at him. This was a first. But being alone for so long has made him really cautious of people and self dependent. He didn't want to depend on the ramen shop as the only food source. Even though he liked the owner, he never talked to him a lot. He also observed that whenever he ate there, the shop was empty but otherwise they had a decent business.

He discussed everything with Kichi. He even told him that sometimes people throw rocks or spoiled fruits at him. He told him that he hears people call him "demon - brat" or "monster" behind his back when they think he will not be able to hear.

It has been two months now since he shifted to his apartment and he was two months short of being 5 years old. The situation has not improved which resulted in this conversation.

"Hey Kichi, what should I do? It is getting really difficult. I even asked the old man why everyone hates me, and he just shrugged it off saying that it was my imagination as I'm an orphan so no one simply knows me." asked a distressed Naruto. He was not distressed that everyone hates him. He has learnt to live alone. He was worried that it was almost impossible for him to get the basic essentials.

"**I dunno man. This situation is very disturbing. I've seen the way you are treated at the few occasions when we were together.**" replied Kichi worriedly.

"Only I am treated this way. I am sure of it. I haven't seen anyone being treated this way except maybe that weird lady who wears a trench coat but they don't do anything in front of her as everyone is scared of her for some reason. She is a shinobi for sure." said Naruto all the while thinking that maybe he should also become a shinobi as then atleast no one will be able to treat him like this.

"**They do these things only to you, right? I know what you can do.**" said Kichi as if he just had an epiphany.

"What do you have in mind?" asked Naruto curiously.

"**You see I've seen older toads use this when they train. Once they were training in stealth and there is this toad who loves to wear orange coloured coat but he was wearing dark green coat that day. So, I asked him about it and he said that when you are trying to hide, you try to blend with your surrounding. I asked him how does that help and he answered that you try to go unnoticed by others and for that you try not to be you.**" explained Kichi.

"I don't understand how that helps us in our case Kichi. Its not like I know how to blend with the surrounding or something. Also if I have to buy something I have to go in front of the shopkeeper to pay."

"**What I meant was that you can also try not to be you. You only said that they do this only with you. So, if they do not recognise you, your problem will be most probably solved.**"

"I understand now. You are a genius Kichi. What would I do without you?"

"**Hai hai I know, I'm great. You need not keep on stating the obvious. Anyways, what should we do about this?**"

"I know. One day I was with the old man and you know he always wears this weird hat, right? That day he took off the hat and he was looking completely different. How about I also do something like that?"

"**You know, thats not a bad idea but don't you think you will look really stupid in a hat? You should try wearing a cap.**"

"I know that stupid. So, if I hide my hair, how much different will I look?"

"**Your birth marks on your cheeks are also very unique. I haven't seen anyone having anything like that. Should you do something about that as well?**"

"Now that you mention it, whenever I meet someone they are smiling but once they focus on my face they suddenly recognize something. I know what we can do about this. When I was at the orphanage, I saw matron lady put some kind of powder over her face to hide some spots and marks. We will have to find that." said Naruto.

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The conversation brought a whole new dimension to his life. First he went in search of two things, a cap and a make up box. He searched through various trash cans. During these two months he had to do this a lot to find anything which he required. He found a little worn out skull cap and almost empty make up box. It was like he hit a jackpot. The moment he wore the cap and hid his birth marks as best as he could no one was the wiser. He was able to buy everything anything he wanted. The first thing he bought was a good skull cap and a normal cap (baseball) and a new make up box.

However, this didn't go unnoticed. He got a visit from the old man and was asked where was he last week. When he said he was here only and asked him why was he asking so. The old mand just evaded the question saying that no one saw him. Even he had heard couple of times people saying that they haven't seen the "demon - brat" for few days, though they were thankful for it.

This cemented the idea that this happens only to him. So, he and Kichi decided that he should change only when he has to buy things so that people do not get suspicious. He didn't have a problem with that. It didn't harm him to be visible if he didn't need something, right? He had no idea how wrong he was.

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It was his fifth birthday and he had a great time with the old man as usual. Once the old man left him at the Kyubi festival to go home in some time, that the shit hit the fan. Because of the festival the ANBU were busy and spreaded throughout the village. Sarutobi left him at the festival that as he has been living on his own for some time then he can go back to his apartment after enjoying at the festival for some time.

He was moving from stall to stall. As he was with the old man the entire day, he was not wearing his cap or the make up to hide his birth marks. He was becoming aware that everyone was looking at him with even more hate than usual. Now, Naruto was not stupid rather he was very smart and he understood that it was better for him to go home before something happens. He was moving aways from the festival but what he failed to notice was that he was being followed by a group of around twenty drunk people. There was no telling whether they were shinobi or not. As it was really crowded and the ANBU assigned for his protection also slacked off a bit, ANBU missed him in the crowd.

As he turned into the alley which led to the poorer part of the village, he was suddenly flew into the wall because of a very strong kick. The kick and the impact with the wall left him completely unbalanced. Then it started. Punches, kicks, sharp object piercing his body, blunt objects impacting with his body, bones were broken, he smelt blood, he tasted blood, he tasted physical pain and he heard, "die demon - this is for my wife/son/daughter/friend/father/mother .... - how does it feel like Kyubi - ...". All this for the first time in his life. By the time the ANBU was able to find him, he was a bloody pulp. ANBU had no time to see who was responsible for this, he just took him straight to the hospital.

That was the day he learned to hate. That was the day he hated people who mistreat people. That was the day he decided that he will become strong so no one can do this to him or someone like him again. That was the day he decided that he will become a shinobi.

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Sarutobi was shocked when the ANBU who was guarding Naruto came and told him about what happened. The killing intent which flooded the room brought the ANBU to his knees breathing heavily. He went straight to hospital to see what was happening with the treatment. He ensured that Naruto was being taken care of. He was a fool to think that the villagers of Konoha cannot stoop to this level. Seeing Naruto's prone body on the hospital bed brought tears to his eyes. Head rolled that day. ANBU guard was under probation due to his slacking off and all others were warned to ensure that nothing like this happens ever again. The doctors and nurses who denied Naruto treatment at the hospital wet themselves then there itself.

But the damage was done. Naruto changed though no one noticed except Kichi of course and Sarutobi to an extent. Sarutobi thought that he had to ensure that Naruto joins the accademy to become a shinobi. He knew that Minato's son has to be a shinobi but now it was more important so that he can protect himself when the situation arises. He didn't have to persuade Naruto at all and it was decided that he would join the accademy when he turns 6, which was the normal age for joining.

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Since his 5th birthday everything changed. Now, Naruto was certain that everyone hates him and he would do well to always be on guard. There were only few people who were not so but they were very few. He shouldn't trust anyone easily.

He was determined to become a shinobi. He has to learn how to protect himself. As he had a lot of time. He just became very serious about his studies. He knew that if he has to join the accademy then he has to be up to date. The books which came out of the seal regularly helped him in this task. He had no idea how far along he was in his studies as he had no reference ot compare with. Neverthless, he had solid knowledge of kanji, language, history, maths, science, etc. required for the first two years of the academy.

It was his 6th birthday and this time he didn't go to the festival. The wounds and pain of last year were still fresh in his mind. Needless to say that he was not a fool to make the same mistake again even though the old man assured him that he would be there with him. Instead he went to the only place where he was given food with a smile. The old man was happy to comply and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were atleast two people who treat him nicely.

Now he was back in his apartment. He summoned Kichi to enjoy his birthday with him.

"**Yo Naruto, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!**" Kichi was really sad when Naruto didn't summon him last year on his birthday but was really angry to find why he didn't do so. The next day when Naruto summoned him and explained him everything what happened, he was stunned. He was thinking of being angry with Naruto and here he found Naruto wrapped in bandages. He didn't know that Naruto healed really fast and that the bandages were there since the previous night. Even Naruto wasn't aware of it till he removed the bandages and was told by the old man that injuries are not supposed to heal so soon. That was in the past but he knew that his friend has changed because of it.

"Thanx a lot Kichi."

"**Hey, this year I have two gifts for ya. One is from me of course but the other is from pops. Pops said that you would like it.**" said an excited Kichi and presented him with a box.

Naruto opened the box and found a complete stationary set for him to use when he will go to the accademy. Of course they all were in some way associated with toads. He was really happy and thanked Kichi sincerely and then was wondering what has Kichi's 'pops' has given for him. He didn't have to wait as Kichi took out a scroll from his jacket and handed it to him. He opened the scroll and Kichi hopped on his shoulder to see what his pops gave to Naruto.

_Dear Naruto,_

_How're you kiddo? Its a stupid question to ask, huh? I guess you must wondering what this scroll is about. So, let us get on with it. _

_Hmmm ... lets see. I guess first I should say "Happy Birthday" to you. I would also like to wish you the same for the past four birthdays which I've missed. Now you must be wondering about me. I am your father. I left this for you with a very good friend of mine. I'm sorry son that I'm unable to be there for you. You see by the time you read this letter I and your mother would already be dead. I wanted to say these words to you when you could understand the meaning of them but when I did say them you were just born. Neverthless, I love you my son. Your mother loved you. Do not ever think otherwise. _

_The life of a shinobi is always surrounded by death and you have to be prepared for it. Inspite of that we were really looking forward to raise you. Alas it was not meant to be so. Anyways I am sure you would like to know about us._

_Lets see .... your mother was a beautiful woman and was a very competent kunoichi. She was like a tom boy, always full of energy. I loved her very much. I do not want to brag but I was a damn good shinobi myself and you can say you got your good looks from me as well .. hehe. I was a master of seals as well. _

_Talking about seals ... I'm sure by this time you must be really familiar with atleast two seald drawn on summoning seal on your left wrist and the storage seal on your right palm from which the books came were drawn by me. The storage seal has completed its purpose now and will disappear. If you are as sharp as your parents were :D then I'm sure you have noticed that I mentioned there were more seals which I drew on your body. We will get back to that later._

_Have you thought about becoming a shinobi, son? I will be fine with any decision you make regarding this but lemme presume a positive answer as it is in your blood after all. I would advise you to become a shinobi and take it seriously so that you can protect yourself and the people you care about, however few they may be. Now, being a shinobi is not all about fighting. The basic rule which every shinobi should follow is deception. If you are feeling happy, sad, angry or any other feeling, never show it to the opponent. The world we live in is a cruel one. People take advantage of whatever they can. So don't give them anything to use against you. This is the most important thing you will learn. _

_You can deceive in many ways. Never show your true strength, never show your true skills, let people underestimate you and that will make them loose their guard in front of you which will give you an advantage automatically. Another important thing you should keep in mind is that there is always someone who is stronger than you. So, never underestimate your opponent and never overestimate yourself. Always think before acting._

_Another thing which you should keep in mind is that it is always better to have good skills in all spheres of being a shinobi. You should have train your body and mind both. Now I have already made preparations for this and you will have everything at your disposal to train in both the spheres. To traing your mind, gain knowledege. Knowledge about everything is a tool. To traing your body, do physical excercise._

_For a shinobi taijutsu (physical combat), genjutsu (illusion) and ninjutsu (chakra based attacks) are the main skills. However, being skilled with weapons and seals will give you an edge over other shinobis. Generally shinobis specialize in a specific field which is not a bad thing but it may so happen that your opponent's skill is your weakness. This does not mean that you will be equally skilled in all spheres, you will always have more skill in one field than the other._

_I have lectured you enough so lets get down to training part. First of all, you will learn what is chakra at the accademy but also in the texts which I will provide to you. You will need it. So I will give you a brief description. Chakra is the energy which is used by shinobis. This energy is a combination of your physical and spritual energy. You will learn more later but I told you this so that you know that you have it as everyone has chakra._

_Now, to ensure that you become a competent ninja I have given you couple of gifts. Firstly, you have a seal called "gravitaional seal" on your chest. The purpose of this seal is to increase the force of gravity on your body gradually. It increases the effective weight of your body and thus making your muscles exert more force to move your body. It has been active since your birth and regularly increases the force if your body has adjusted to it. You may have felt that sometime it becomes difficult to move. Till now the increase was kept very passive so that there is not a lot of strain on your body. Once you are able to access your chakra and have suffiicient control over it, you can manipulate the force by increasing or decreasing the chakra in the seal. Don't go overboard just train to your best. The harder you train the stronger you become._

_The second set of seals which I've put are on the back of your palms. These specific seals are called "chakra weight seals". The difference between the both is that the first one exerts a uniform force througout the body however the second one increases the weight on specific part of your body. In this case thes seals were put on your palms to increase the speed of making hand seals (which are required for jutsus and you will learn later about them). These seals have also been active since your birth and the increase in weight was very passive._

_Inspite of both the seals having a passive increase in gravitational force/weight, since they have been active since your birth, effectively it is a lot. If you release the seals then you will find a significant increase in your speed. Speed in important as if someone can't move as fast as you then he can't hit you. Also, as your muscles are strained more then you will have more power behind your hits._

_At the bottom of this letter there are two seals. If you rub your blood on the left corner then you will get the necessary scrolls to begin your training to become a shinobi. When you are able to access your chakra then push some chakra on the seal on the right corner then you find more scrolls for higher studies. Last but not the least, there is a seal at the top of the page. Yor will be able to open it only once you turn 12. When you do, rub some blood on it and you will get another letter from me._

_Train hard and live your life without regrets. Protect which is precious to you with your life and live long my son._

_Your father._

Naruto just sat there for a very long time. He didn't even notice that Kichi said that he had to go. Kichi was also shocked and didn't disturn Naruto as he knew that he needed time. Naruto found peace to a great extent. He always wondered about his parents and even though he didn't get to know their names, he was happy to know that he was not abandoned and was loved. He was not unwanted. He didn't even realize when we slipped into the nothingness of sleep cause he had only thought in his mind.

_'They loved me.'_

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A/N : I know a very long chapter but I had to put a base of lot of things. Sorry for the delay. Do give feedback if the story is moving properly. Suggestions are always welcome. If there are any gramatical mistakes, sorry about that.


	4. Requiem of Innocence

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto .... blah blah blah !

A/N: I apologise folks for the delay but I hope that the wait was worth it as I have a really long chapter and even then I have a feeling that I was not able to do justice to many aspects of the chapter. On a very exciting note, Iron Maiden is gonna rock Bagalore (India) this weekend and I am gonna and enjoy every fucking second of it, hell yeah! Rock bands hardly come to India and that too it is almost impossible to especially go to a different city for a day or two.

Lemme make few things clear. Someone raised the issue of Naruto having retarded growth due to the gravity seal. I tried googling about this but never came across any concrete evidence supporting that wearing weights make your growth retarded. Even if it had been true, we are forgetting two important facts, a) Naruto has the Kyubi's purified but potent chakra going into his chakra coils, who knows what result it will have (well for present premise except me) and b) shinobis are not like normal human beings, they have "chakra" which we do not have so we can only speculate what will happen. About Lee, Gai didn't have him start wearing weights because he met him only after he graduated. There is no indication whatsoever saying otherwise. And if Lee with hardly any chakra can adjust to those monstrous weights in just 1.5 - 2 years then why can't our protagonist.

Secondly, folks if you want to read canon then please read the manga, its getting quite interesting even though I'm really disappointed as Kishimoto is turning Naruto into a one trick pony. Well actually a two trick pony, Kage Bunshin and Rasengan. This is a fanfic for a reason. Naruto will not be goofy or a prankster. If you look at the way I am building his character then he is the silent and observant type. Needless to say he won't be an emo (cough Sasuke cough). Kakashi failed as a sensei and whatever may be the case he never thought that Naruto will amount to anything till the time he returned from his training with Jiraiya. Sasuke was always arrogant and thought that he is above everyone. He is a dickhead, enough said. Sakura is a bitchy little piece of shit. I kind of hate her so don't expect any cuddling for either of them, however insignificant their roles may be, this is a Naruto - centric fic after all.

I guess that should be enough. Just so you know I am really excited about getting to the point where Haku comes into the scene. Lets see how I write about that .. hmm.

** Chapter 4 : Requiem of Innocence**

Sarutobi was really confused. The implications of the situation he found himself in were staggering and annoying. Being the Hokage he should be aware of everything going on in his village especially if it concerns to one of the possible recruit as a shinobi under his command. So, in order to get some answers he finally arranged for this meeting. Now, he was wondering how much hand twisting he will have to do to get the whole truth. Getting angry with the person or simply giving an order will not be fruitful, that he was pretty much sure about. So he will have to probe with subtlety. There was a knock on the door and he answered, "Come in."

"Have a seat." he stated and the person took the offered seat. He made a gesture with his hand and indicated to the ANBU guards to leave his office.

"Your message was not very informative. So, what is this about ..." his guest began speaking but was interrupted.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked.

"Uh ... meaning of what?" came the intelligent reply. He sighed and passed him a sheet.

"Eh! The results are out. Damn! I really thought I had a chance." was the reply.

"So did I. So, imagine my surprise when I was informed of this. You had more than a chance. So, kindly enlighten me about the farce that you are staring at!!" he said quite irritated.

"There is nothing to explain, oji - san. The first year at the academy is really tough, I tried my level best, though" the boy, Naruto tried to explain.

"Sigh! I may be old but I am not senile yet, Naruto. I know you are smart, it is reflected in the way you talk. Also, you are quite knowledgeable for a 7 year old boy. So, will you cut the bullshit and tell me why did you think that failing the first year at the academy was a bright idea?" he asked exasperatedly.

Naruto sighed as he knew he has been caught by the old man. He and Kichi were almost sure that this will happen, after all the plan came into effect after he has joined the academy. By that time his interaction with the old man was already progressed enough to indicate that he will ace at the academy. His mind wandered to how it all began.

(Flashback : A year ago)

As the time bled into a new year, a new session of the shinobi academy commenced. Naruto also joined the academy as was his arrangement with the old man. He was excited to go to the academy even though he didn't show it. He thought may be with someone explaining the topics it will be easier to learn than learning on your own through scrolls but he soon found out that his father ensured that he was ahead of the course material. He already knew everything that was to be taught in the first year and more. He didn't know everything but almost.

The first glaring defect of joining the academy reared its ugly head when around in the second week he had a doubt and ignoring his own reservations he asked the instructor about it. He wasn't very surprised that first he was ignored, then he was reprimanded for disrupting the class and finally he was told to go and stand outside the class.

The second was more obvious but subtle as well. If you hate something, you're always afraid of that, having power over you. The same was true in his case. He knew everyone hated him. It didn't surprise him that him trying to become a shinobi was like a proverbial axe hanging over the necks of the villagers. The first indication of this came around after two weeks when he was walking in the market in his "secret" get up. He was buying food at a shop when he heard two villagers conversing.

"Did you hear that the demon is attending the shinobi academy?"

"I know. How can Hokage - sama allow that thing to become a shinobi? As if it isn't dangerous enough, now the village is training it how to kill."

"The council should execute him before he becomes too strong and destroys the village."

It has been a month and such conversations were simply commonplace in the village. Everywhere he went, it was the talk of the town. As he knew almost everything at the academy he started feeling bored and regularly lost focus during the lectures. The instructors were more than happy to punish him for the same. It was one of those days when he was punished for not paying attention in the class.

When he reached his apartment, he summoned Kichi as was their routine.

"**Yo bro!**" greeted Kichi. In the past three years they have become affectionate enough that Kichi started calling him "bro".

"Hey Kichi" replied Naruto.

"**So, how was your day at the academy?**"

"Same old, same old. Shinji - san caught me sleeping, again, and told me to stand outside of the class all the while muttering something about 'It is a good thing that the demon isn't getting strong but I have to ensure it as well'. Man, these people will never change. Don't you think?"

"**Che! Fucking morons! Hey bro, its not a bad idea, though.**"

"What is not a bad idea, Kichi?"

"**Everyone hates you and since you've joined the academy few are even scared of you. The instructor thinks that you are not getting any strong and is relieved because of it. There is no point in proving him wrong, though. Let everyone think that you are weak.**"

"Hmmm. That is actually not bad. Dad also told me in the letter that deception is the best tool of a shinobi. Let them underestimate me. I have to do something drastic, though, to cement the idea that I am not strong."

"**Why don't you intentionally fail in the first year, if you don't mind loosing out on an year? That should ensure that they think you are actually stupid as you can't even clear the first year at the academy.**"

"Wasting one year ... huh! I think that is perfect for me. Also, from next year I will ensure that I am just below average in everything. Not too bad that they can regularly pick on me and not good enough that they are always vary of me. I guess that this will get them off my back till the time I become genin. Till that time I will become strong enough so that not every shithead can beat the living daylights out of me. Also, once I become genin I will be under oji - san's direct command. Then I will try and move in the ranks quickly."

(Flashback End)

'_There is no point in deceiving the old man, that ship has already sailed. So, I got to tell him the truth. Well, this is actually kind of good. As he will be in on the secret and may be I can even ask him for help at times._' Naruto thought to himself and then started explaining the situation to the old man.

"Fine fine. I will explain everything to you. You may not acknowledge few of the things as you have shrugged them off earlier when I confronted you regarding them. Firstly, I know almost everyone in this village hates me. You can deny it or you can shrug it off but that fact will remain unchanged. This is applicable to the instructors as well. This was applicable to the care takers at the orphanage too, though they were not too open about it. The moment I joined the academy everywhere I went, I can see that now everyone looked at me with fear too while earlier it was only hatred. When they thought that I am not around they whisper things like 'how can hokage - sama allow the demon to join the academy'. Once when I asked a question during the lecture I was reprimanded for disrupting the class and was punished. After that they just looked for excuses to send me out of the class thinking that they were playing their role in ensuring that I do not grow powerful. Hah, as if! Anyways I thought that if they are so afraid of me then I will simply fool them by showing them what they want to see." said Naruto.

Sarutobi was visibly saddened by the fact that the hatred of the villagers has reached such levels that it has become so apparent to Naruto. He was also amazed by how much Naruto has grown up. All these are to be pondered later as presently he wanted answers. "And what is it that they want to see?" asked the veteran Kage.

"That I am an incompetent shinobi. They want assurance that I do not amount to anything significant. So, I will give them that till the time I'm capable of protecting myself. After all deception is a shinobi's best tool, ain't that right, _Hokage - sama_?"

"And what exactly are you planning to do once you are capable enough?" asked Sarutobi, slightly worried.

"No need to get your blood pressure high, Hokage - sama. I will do exactly what I said, I will protect myself, protect who cannot protect themselves and what I care about so that I am not at the mercy of a carefree ANBU guard." said Naruto with an edge in his voice as he was getting irritated with the way the old man was insinuating about things.

"Sigh! You know I will regret that to my dying day, Naruto. For what its worth, I am really sorry about what happened two years ago.", apologised Sarutobi in a very sad voice.

"No need to be sad about it, oji - san. I don't blame you. You did your best, after all you have a whole village to look after." consoled Naruto.

"I know you don't but I failed you that day. Is it actually that bad with the villagers? I am sure that there must be at least few who do not hate you?" asked Sarutobi almost pleadingly. He was already burdened with the fact that Naruto doesn't trust him as he always brushes him off when he asks why everyone hates him, he didn't want this on his conscience as well that he could not fulfil his successor's dying wish.

"Haha! That was a good one, oji - san. There are only 3 people who I have met and do not hate me. You and the family that runs the Ichiraku ramen stand. Didn't you wonder why I didn't have any food in my home a week after I shifted from the orphanage? Or, why did you come to hear that I wasn't seen in the village for a week after a month of that?"

Seeing the baffled look on the old man's face, he sighed and continued.

"Oji - san, when I go out someone or the other throws stones, eggs, spoilt fruits or anything that can hurt, at me. Some one or the other is just looking for an excuse to slap or kick me. I am denied from entering any of the shops and no one is willing to sell me anything. When I went missing for a week, I was right there in the village, just under a disguise." explained Naruto and at the questioning look from the old man took out his skull cap and wore it. "As for the birthmarks on my cheeks, I just use some make up to hide them and I'm a completely different person. No one is the wiser."

Sarutobi was really appalled by the way Naruto was treated and was beyond impressed at the same time with Naruto. He had no idea that Naruto has persevered against such odds or that he was this smart. He was ashamed that he was so blind with the love of the village that he didn't even get to know even a sliver of the cruelties that Naruto was facing. '_I guess I am getting really old for this shit._'

"Tell me the truth, Naruto, how was your stay at the orphanage?"

"It was not bad, oji - san. They didn't like me but they never mistreated me. Sigh! I was just so lonely. No one talked to me or played with me. I guess I learnt to be independent because of them. The only thing that pissed me off was that they didn't even let me learn how to read or write" said an obviously emotional Naruto. He was after all a kid and he was always a little free with the old man and these things just came out of his mouth before he even realised what he was saying.

"Those fucking bastards! To treat a child like that is unforgivable. I will make sure that they pay for what they have done. Wait a minute! If they didn't teach you how to read and write, how did you learn it? I am pretty sure that you are really good at both." '_More unanswered questions, damn it! You are hell bent to make me feel my age, Naruto_'

'_Shit! I didn't mean to tell him that. What should I do? I can't tell him about the seals. Even though I like the old man, those seals are gifts from tou - san and I don't want to share them with anyone else, Kichi doesn't count obviously as he is my best friend._'

"When the care takers weren't paying attention, I stole the books that the other children got and learnt on my own" said Naruto trying to look sheepish so that the old man doesn't get any more suspicious.

Sarutobi peered at Naruto as if trying to piece a puzzle and finally asked, "Is that everything you have to tell me Naruto?" After receiving a nod in response, he sighed and thought, '_He still doesn't trust me enough. I guess I will have to bring out my trump card_' He opened a drawer and took out his spying crystal orb.

"Do you know what is this for, Naruto? Let me show you." He moved his hands to the orb and pushed some chakra into it and the orb showed the view of the marketplace of Konoha.

"This little thing shows me any place I want to see in the entire village. When I got your first year's result, I was really confused as I thought you would ace the exams. So, I took a look at what you were up to at your apartment. Imagine my surprise, when I saw you there talking to a toad summon, no less. So, what else are you hiding from me, Naruto?"

'_Holy fucking shit! I had no idea the old man had something like that up his sleeve. I shouldn't be surprised though, as he is the Hokage after all and such a thing would be really helpful to him for keeping an eye on the activities of the village. Man, what should I do? He caught me completely off guard with that. I am in a bind. Sigh! I guess I will have to tell him about Kichi._'

"On the night of my third birthday, a seal on my left hand's wrist activated and well, Gamakichi got summoned. Since then we have been best friends. And that is all there is to that."

'_Minato, you had so little faith in us that you had to ask for Gamabunta - sama's help. I guess I don't have any right to say anything about it ... eh? I will try to do what I can now from this point forth. May be I will be able to redeem for my past shortcomings with regard to your son. Please forgive me, Minato._' thought Sarutobi miserably to himself.

"I am amazed you were able to hide such a fact from everyone, including me. Now, I understand your situation even though I would prefer that you try to keep me apprised of the important events in your life. Above all, feel free to ask me for help whenever you require it. I am generally very busy but I can always spare some time for you, Naruto."

"Actually, I do need your help with an issue. I need a training ground which is away from prying eyes. If I am to show that I am incompetent then I can not train somewhere public and well, Kichi is also increasing in size quite rapidly."

"That can be taken care of easily. I have the perfect place for you. This training ground hasn't been used for quite some time." said Sarutobi while taking out a sheet of paper with the address and the directions to the training ground and handing it to Naruto.

"Arigato, oji - san. I will go now. See you later old man." replied a relieved, thankful and happy Naruto. As soon as Naruto left the office, the ANBU guards came back inside the office.

"Get me Dolphin." ordered Sarutobi.

"Hai, Hokage - sama." replied one of them and left by shunshin. A few moments later an ANBU entered the office.

"You called me, Hokage - sama?" asked the ANBU.

"Hai, Iruka - kun, I have a new assignment for you."

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Naruto reached the training ground, the directions to which he was told by the old man. It was perfect from him. It was really secluded and was totally hidden with a cover of trees. It had a river running at one end of the field. The training ground in itself was quite huge, it was just a little unkempt and that was because of no one using it for some time as indicated by the old man.

For the past year, his academic studies were moving steadily with the scrolls and books provided by his father. The first piece of advice which he received was at the beginning of Training Manual I.

"_Always start small and then go up from there. There is no need to rush when you are trying to learn the basics. So, for the coming year your task will be to condition your body and to try and access your chakra. Lets discuss physical conditioning. Start by running to increase your stamina. When you are starting with the exercise, then do just a little more than you are capable of. If you think that you can run 2 km, then try to run 2.5 km for a week and when you get comfortable with that then increase the distance and your speed of running. Same is the case with other exercises. So you will have to do crunches, push ups, pull ups and sit ups. Try doing 10 - 15 repetitions of each and see where you can go from there. The instructions to do them properly are given in the manual with other more exercises as well. Do as much as you can._

_The other important part of your training is to access your chakra. You will begin with trying to meditate. Once you are able to meditate successfully, then you will try to access your chakra coils. The next part will be to try and feel the flow of your chakra in your coils. Get one with it. The most basic flaw with the shinobis now a days is that as soon as they access their chakra, they try to jump to try flashy jutsus. There is no point in trying to do flashy jutsus if you are not even familiar with your own body and your chakra. So, get off your bum and down to business, chop chop!_"

His training followed the advice given by his tou - san religiously. Another plus point was that Kichi was also starting his training. While he did his exercises then Kichi would be doing his. In his case, instead of running, he hopped in forward and backward directions or jumped as high as possible and as many times as possible. They started meditating together and around after half a year both of them were able to access their chakra. He followed his tou - san's advice and everyday religiously felt the flow of his chakra in his body. By the end of the year, he was able to feel the chakra flowing throughout his body and up to the developing tenketsus.

On his birthday, Kichi told him that pops was amazed and happy with his progress and as a gift has allowed him to summon Kichi for another year with only blood as the sacrifice. He said that he was sure that with another year Naruto will be accustomed enough in using chakra efficiently that he would be able to summon Kichi at the least.

Now, that he had a personal training ground, he had no problems in progressing in his training without any hindrance or hesitation of getting caught by some villager. And so it began, 6 years of very painful and fruitful training. That doesn't mean that nothing of importance happened, quite a few significant events occurred which will be mentioned in a short while.

When he was attending the lectures in the academy, most of his time went in reading the various scrolls and books stored by his tou - san. He became very proficient in everything academically like politics, human psychology, mathematics, anatomy, higher sciences, chakra theory, tactics, seals (which he found most interesting as it was because of a seal that his life did a 180), etc but mind you he didn't have any practical experience in most of them.

When he was in the academy, most of the other students avoided him either due to prior warnings from loved ones or due to his own cold behaviour or for a simple fact that he was considered incompetent as he failed in the first year. Throughout his time at the academy at times, few instructors tried to pick on him but since a new instructor, Umino Iruka joined the academy, these things stopped. He didn't bother him and Naruto was fine with it. He made sure that his performance in everything was just below average. Most thought of him as anti - social but few found him intriguing but never approached him. Nara Shikamaru, (and by extension) Akimichi Chouzi, Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata belonged to that group and had their own reasons for not doing anything. Nara found it troublesome to be friends with him, Chouzi was just happy with eating snacks, Hinata was way too shy and Shino was just stoic and aloof.

For the first three years (age 7 - 10) the only other thing he learnt was chakra control and use of ninja tools like shurikens, kunais, ninja wire, etc. The manual for chakra control had specific intructions telling him that he should regularly train his chakra control as he will always have shit load of chakra. He started off with leaf balancing on the forehead followed by on the palms and then together. When he turned 8 he learnt tree walking and very soon combined it with the leaf balancing exercises. He also used tree walking exercise while doing pull ups and inverted crunches. When he turned 9 he learnt how to walk on water which he again combined with leaf balancing.

When he turned 10 he replaced leaves by shurikens and kunais to increase the difficulty and get better results for chakra control. One thing he loved doing was meditating at the end of he day. It was calming and also great to feel the flow of chakra in his entire body. He took it even a step farther by meditating over water.

He finally started up with the 3 basic academy jutsus as well. By the time he turned 11 he became proficient in two of the jutsus. Whatever he tried, he was unable to make a simple bunshin. From there on he learnt a katon jutsu to create a small fire stream to burn dry wood or paper, a futon jutsu to create a breeze, a raiton jutsu to give a static shock when touched by the hands, a suiton jutsu to condense the water vapours from the air to collect water and tsuchi and mizu bunshin till he turned 12. He mastered all these jutsus as it was advised that he should master them to the point that he realises how his chakra is being converted in each of the elements.

As he learned all the jutsus on his own, he was never instructed to shout them aloud as it was only done to increase one's focus. This ensured that he didn't caution his opponents that he simply muttered the jutsu.

He also started summoning few other toads and getting familiar with their fighting styles. He never moved very far in this aspect as he treated his summons as his friends and wanted to know them well before summoning anyone else. Thus, he has only summoned 10 other toads in total and none bigger than 8 feet.

His physical conditioning was rigorous. His body was well toned but didn't have bulging muscles. The reason behind that, even if he didn't know, was Kyubi. Due to its potent chakra being added regularly to his body, his bones became denser, his muscles were much more stronger and with half the atrophy rate. By the time he turned 13 he was 5'6". His standard attire was black cargo, a blood red muscle shirt and a plain loose black jacket. Somehow he acquired a habit of wearing geta.

He perfected the academy taught taijutsu which he always used in public. He was also starting to learn the higher level katas of his tou - san's taijutsu style. He was cautioned against using his father's taijutsu style in public unless he is left with no other option but to use his tou - san's style. He was so concentrated on doing everything he needed to do that he completely forgot about the gravity and chakra weight seals till the time he turned 10. On his 10th birthday he had an urge to re-read his tou - san's letter and remembered about them. Luckily for him, by that time he had enough chakra control to manipulate the seals to an acceptable precision. Even though he has good chakra control he still has a huge amount of chakra. The control ensures that he doesn't waste chakra but it is still nearly impossible for him to accumulate minuscule amount of chakra.

Having said all this about his training, lets take a look at few of the aforementioned significant events that took place during this time.

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He will be turning 11 in few months and his training was coming along well. At this juncture, he needed something desperately. For quite sometime it was becoming apparent to him that his training was severely lacking in one particular aspect. Well, it lacked in a lot of aspects like detecting and dispelling genjutsus. He was well versed in the theory but neither did he know any genjutsus nor did he have someone to help him with it. He didn't have any practical experience with all the theoretical knowledge he had. His aim with the shurikens and kunais was also a little off the mark.

Getting back to the one thing which he definitely needed to rectify. So, he had a self appointed mission. It was time to commence it. He did a quick Henge into an inconspicuous boy while he was hidden in an alley. He went straight across the road and immediately entered the establishment. He went to the counter and politely made his request with the owner. After a brief discussion, he took out an already prepared enclosed note and handed it over along with the appropriate amount of ryos. After ensuring that the owner did as he asked him to, he quickly went out of the restaurant and made his way to his next destination.

Meanwhile, a secluded table was being approached by one of the waiters. When he reached the table, a single kunochi wearing a trench coat looked up from her meal with a raised eyebrow and a glint in her eyes which clearly stated '_You better have a good reason to disturb my meal otherwise you are going to be in a world of pain_'. The waiter quickly set down a plate of dango in front of her with an enclosed envelope and ran off from there.

Anko was genuinely confused as she was sure that she did not order an extra plate of her favourite dish. She quickly opened the envelope to find a note inside.

_Mitarashi - san, I apologise for interrupting your meal, beforehand. I needed a way to get this request for a meeting across to you. I have observed you having meals here regularly and found this as my only chance to approach you. Please do not misunderstand me, I have not been stalking you. I just need a bit of your time. If you are interested then you can find me training in training ground 43 everyday for this week from 2 to 8 in the evening. Consider the dish as compensation for taking up your time. _

_U.N. _

Anko's interest was piqued. This was a completely new way someone has used to approach her. Also, this mysterious person was considerate enough to buy her dango. There was no harm in meeting him once, if he tried anything to harm her then she was sure that she can take care of herself. Thinking that she quickly picked up the two dango sticks made her way to training ground 43.

She reached there within 5 minutes and scanned the ground while hiding in the shadows trying to find out who was this mystery person. She didn't have to wait for long as the said person was doing pull ups while sticking to a tree branch using chakra on his palms. '_What the fuck! He is just a fucking kid, most probably an academy student. Well, lets see how good his reactions are and what does he want_'

Thinking that she quickly threw a kunai right at Naruto's face and jumped on the ground. Naruto was about to complete his set of pull ups when suddenly he saw kunai heading directly towards his face. He was startled and quickly dropped to the ground in a crouching position to look for the threat. Flashes of his 5th birthday coming to his mind. He quickly found the owner of the kunai as he saw the dangerous kunochi making her way to him. He quickly calmed himself by taking deep breaths and prepared himself for the conversation he was about to have.

"Mitarashi - san, I am really thankful that you decided to meet me even though my approach was a little presumptuous, I guess."

"Don't sweat, gaki. After all you were kind enough to buy me dango. But, don't you think I am a little old for you, for that matter aren't you way too young to be even interested in girls, let alone maturer women. You have good taste though, I am game just to see if it is even possible to do at your age." replied Anko very suggestively while giving an ample view of her gorgeous assets, seductively. The look of horror that appeared on Naruto's face was worth it in Anko's opinion.

Naruto has only recently started to notice the fairer sex but in no way was he prepared for anything like this. He knew what the scantily clad kunochi in front of her was insinuating and he was appalled by it. At times being knowledgeable can be a double edged sword. "Are you fucking insane!" he shouted indignantly. He quickly tried to compose himself and continued with a stammer "You misunderstand me, Mitarashi - san. I didn't want to meet you for _that_. I want your help."

"Well, people do say that I am insane. Hmmm ... so if it is not _that _then what is it you need my help with? Who the hell are you anyway ?"

"I apologise for not introducing myself but am also surprised that you didn't recognise me. My name is Uzumaki Naruto."

Realization came over her eyes but being a special jounin she was able to hide her surprise. As she was quite a loner and was usually busy with missions, she hadn't come across the young jinchuriki for a very long time.

"Mitarashi - san, I am quite aware of the fact that almost the entire village hates me. I do not know of the reason behind this animosity but I will find it out soon enough. I am a very reserved person and usually keep to myself. However, what most people are ignorant about is that I am very observant. I know for a fact that after me, if someone is hated in this village then it is you. I do not know the reason for that as well but I do have a theory which is quite probable but it is not my place to interfere in your affairs or judge you. We both deal with this hatred in a different manner, as you are a very deadly kunochi villagers are afraid of confronting you and you simply use their fear by cementing it with your psychotic act. I on the other hand am not strong enough, yet to have such an effect and thus, prefer to live in shadows. If it is not too much to ask, will you be willing to help in my training? I don't want you to teach me any jutsus. It will be a great help if you can help me perfect my basic techniques and help me gain experience. Having battle experience is one of the most important part of a shinobi's training which will save his life. I want to gain the instinct which only comes by fighting seriously with a stronger opponent. Even an hour a day will be very appreciated. I am even happy to buy you a serving of dango for every session as a token of my gratitude."

Anko just stood there contemplating everything the gaki said. "Tell me gaki, what is your theory of why the village hates me?"

"I do not have any concrete proof but I have come to a conclusion that it is related to Orochimaru. If I were to hazard a guess then you were somehow accused of some of the deeds of the traitor and as these stupid villagers have no way of laying a hand on the snake sannin, you have become their scapegoat."

"I was his apprentice. When he betrayed the village, he left me to the wolves. Tell you what gaki, show me what your training consists of and if I am impressed I will think about it. If you are not serious enough to give your all into your training even without anyone helping you, then I ain't going to waste my time. Also, I will need to inform Hokage - sama if I choose to help you."

"Arigato, Mitarashi - san. I am sure the old man will have no problem with this arrangement. I could have asked him to provide me with an instructor but then the said instructor would be here only out of obligation to the Hokage. I did not want that and also do not want to be dependent on the old man's kindness."

Anko was really impressed with gaki's maturity. He raised quite a few points which indicated that he was quite intelligent and wanted to earn his skills. Anko could repect that. "Call me Anko, gaki. I will definitely take you up on that offer of dango."

So, began Naruto's torture ... err ... training with Anko. First thing which Anko fixed was his technique of using his wrist while flicking shuriken and kunai. Second came taijutsu and then they would just spar. Anko taught him how to survive against tougher opponents, how to use the terrain to his advantage, human psychology, use of poisons and even some jutsus as she was really impressed by him. Also, as he always treated her with respect she got attached to him. She considered him like a brother but never voiced it as she didn't know how to be a sister. Naruto also cared deeply for her as she was one of the few people who helped him. He didn't know if he would consider her a sister as he never had a family and didn't know if that was how siblings were. Needless to say though, that it was one of the first bonds Naruto made in the village.

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Hate was an emotion he got acquainted with quite early in his life. In the erstwhile years this emotion was directed at him but even with this cruel treatment he could not find it in his heart to reciprocate it. However, after the horrendous events of his 5th birthday, he learned to hate. The very thought that people take advantage of those who are incapable of defending themselves like he found himself, all those years ago, makes a burning rage almost consume his very soul.

Pain, was something the fate demanded of him for just being alive. Whether it was physical or just a manifestation of his weak heart which forever longed for some acknowledgement, it was always there right in front of his face. Staring into his eyes, like a constant reminder of his loneliness.

Happiness to him was like water to someone who lives in a desert. He could only have enough to quench the thirst of his soul but never lasting long enough to give a sense of security. His time with the old man or Kichi were like something from someone else's life.

Love was something he was unfamiliar with. He knew it must be something beautiful but was never fortunate enough to experience it. Kindness was shown to him by the few people who he cared about in his life. But, love he wished to feel. His parents loved him, that he knew but what he was foreign to was what it felt like to be loved.

Now there was a new emotion he was getting quite accustomed to, and it was jealousy. During his stay at the orphanage he was not matured enough to identify if he was jealous of the other kids who were cared for and provided with everything by the caretakers. Since he shifted to the apartment he was too focused to be independent and was mostly away from everyone. Since he joined the academy, though, he was for the first time realising what he didn't have and other children were fortunate enough to have. Loved ones who were always there for them. He was jealous of how most of the students had families, how they belonged to a clan, belonged to whole group of people who were like them. He, on the other hand, was an orphan who was all alone in life. He had Kichi, though and he was immensely thankful to his long dead father for bringing him in his life.

The same toad summon was staring at his summoner with a very worried expression on his face. After knowing his summoner for more than 5 years, he could proudly claim without any embellishment on his part, that he knew Naruto like the back of his webbed hand. It hurt him to find the pained look in his summoner's eyes which becomes overwhelming every once in a while showing that he was on the verge of loosing all hope. _The letter_ and he himself have filled the void in his soul to a great extent but it was still there widening continuously as he matures more with every passing moment.

"Do you think I will ever find a place where I will belong, Kichi?"

"**What brought this on, bro?**" asked back Kichi with a sigh as he realised that it was one of those times.

"I was just thinking, Kichi. Will I ever have a family or will someone ever love me? I just wonder sometimes ... "

"**Of course, you will, you moron! There are many people outside this damn village who are not like these fucking morons. You already have a family with the toads, you know.**" replied Kichi hurriedly to provide some assurance.

"Yeah man, I know. I just wonder what happened to tou - san's or ka - san's clans."

"**You can start your own clan, for your future family. You can give them a place to belong, a clan to rely on.**"

"Hmm ... always looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, eh Kichi?"

"**With you moping around always, someone has to. So, if you are going to have a clan then you have to have a clan symbol. What does Uzumaki mean?**"

"Something related to a whirlpool. For now, I think it should be something simple until I can identify it to mean something significant. How about a simple swirl which can symbolize a whirlpool."

Kichi agreed without any hesitation. He was just happy to provide some hope to his brother. From that day forth, every thing Naruto owned had _the swirl _on it.

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The academy graduation day finally arrived. Nothing of significance happened on that day. Well, except for an unusual event. When Iruka and Mizuki were administering the ninjutsu part of the exam, they were presented with a strange request. When Uzumaki Naruto was called in the examination room and asked to perform the three academy taught jutsus, he only did two of them. When he was about to be failed, he spoke up.

"Umino - sensei, is it necessary to perform bunshin no jutsu? Will any other bunshin be acceptable?" asked the blonde teenager.

"Technically, the exam states that the genin candidate has to create at least three bunshins, without any specifications of its type." replied Iruka emotionlessly, but on the inside he was quite interested with this event. He was surprised also as the blond always kept to himself and his performance was just below average in everything. Iruka was no fool, he had been an ANBU captain for 5 years before he was assigned to spot the corruption at the academy. He was quite sure that the blond jinchuriki was much more than he lets on. His instincts were screaming at him that this shinobi is going to be one of the most feared in the world. What baffled him was that he was unable to gauge his present skill level.

Naruto nodded to this and took out a canteen of water. He spilled the water on the floor and did a set of hand seals while speaking "Mizu bunshin no jutsu" cautiously loud enough to ensure that they realise that he already was proficient with only muttering the jutsu. His jacket sleeves were long enough that the seals were obscured enough that no one can find what technique he is about to do by looking at them. As soon as he completed the jutsu, there were 3 perfect copies of his standing beside him.

Iruka nodded his head as if finding the demonstration acceptable and congratulated him for graduating the genin exam. Though, his suspicions were confirmed and somehow he was sure that Hokage - sama were also aware of this deception.

-----------------------------------------

Mizuki was cursing his luck. He had his hopes on the kyuubi brat. He was aware of the fact that the brat was not capable of doing bunshin as his previous pathetic efforts made it evident. Who the fuck knew that little piece of shit was capable of doing muzu bunshin. Now, he was pretty much screwed.

Iruka was hot on his tails, he never let him out of his sights. He also knew that Iruka was very suspicious of him. He was almost sure that Iruka had an idea about his traitorous activities. It was easy to sabotage the kyuubi brat's progress at the academy and not get implicated for it. Everyone hated him so all it took was a small suggestion. He worked for 7 years to ensure that he could present the chance of graduating as a carrot in front of the damn brat. Now, it went all down the drain.

He suddenly grinned as he had another ace up his sleeve. It was amazingly easy to trick the perpetually obsessed grandson of Sandaime. All he had to say was that if he brought the scroll of seals to him then he would teach him all the powerful jutsus that were present in it. Now, he was waiting in a clearing near a training ground which no one uses anymore. Today was the perfect day as Sandaime was busy in a council meeting and his grandson's presence in his office never raised any suspicion. Soon, he will get power beyond imagination.

When Konohamaru reached the clearing he was happy to see Mizuki sensei there. His young mind did not even think of the possibility that Mizuki sensei may be deceiving him. For a young child sheltered by the hokage, every shinobi of the village was loyal. All he thought about was learning the powerful jutsus from Mizuki sensei so that people would recognise him as Konohamaru and not _the honorable grandson._

Naruto was finishing his training for the day early as he and Kichi had plans to relax at top of the Hokage monument and celebrate his graduation. It was not so much as celebration for graduation rather the beginning of his life as a shinobi. He was meditating while sitting over the river as was his usual routine. Beside him was his best friend who was also doing the same, when he picked up two chakra signatures just outside the training ground.

He immediately became suspicious as he could not come up with a reason for the old man's grandson to be with Mizuki at this time of the night. During his time at the academy something about the chunin just rubbed him the wrong way. He decided to investigate it. He quickly brought Kichi up to speed and both of them made their way towards the two chakra signatures. They reached there just in time to hear them talking.

"Mizuki - sensei, I have brought the scroll of seals and no one was alerted as you provided that storage scroll so that I can carry the small scroll easily. Now, you will teach me the powerful jutsus in that scroll to defeat the old man, right?"

"Of course, Konohamaru - kun. Good job. Your first mission was very successful. Now, give me the scroll so that I can begin your training." said Mizuki with a false smile on his face.

Naruto sighed and shook his head, disappointed at the brat's stupidity. The way Mizuki was taking advantage of the naive boy was infuriating him. He was sure that as soon as Mizuki will get the scroll he will kill the old man's grandson. He hated bastards like that and he is gonna beat him to a bloody pulp. He quickly told his plan to Kichi and they took off towards their targets.

Konohamaru took out the scroll and threw it over to Mizuki. Then something strange happened. Suddenly a tongue came out of the shadows and snatched the scroll in mid flight. Mizuki was shocked and dumbfounded but before he or Konohamaru could even say anything, the tongue came again and took hold of Konohamaru and he also vanished into the shadows.

Konohamaru was startled when he was grabbed and was about to shout when he found a strange hand over his mouth. when he looked back , he came face to face with a toad. His young brain could not even comprehend the situation before it became even worse when the toad spoke.

"**Don't even think of shouting, you damn brat. You have just been tricked by that bastard. Did you actually think that it was a good idea to bring a scroll from your grandfather's office without his permission.**"

Konohamaru was slow to understand the situation and then a look of horror and then shame came on his face. He was still thinking why Mizuki - sensei would trick him when the toad spoke again. By this time he understood that the toad was a summon as he had seen his grandfather's monkey summons speak before.

"**Don't worry too much. You are lucky that me and bro were nearby. Now, sit and watch how bro takes care of that shithead over there.**"

Konohamaru looked into the clearing where he found Mizuki facing a blond boy with whisker marks on his face. He remembered him from the various times he found him talking and laughing with his grandfather in his office. Meanwhile in the clearing, Mizuki felt a presence behind him and turned to find the damn kyuubi brat standing around 10 feet in front of him. He was already at the end of his wits and just couldn't hold his temper.

"What the fuck are you doing here, you damn demon?" Mizuki snarled.

"Hmm .. did you say something, Mizuki - teme? Now, why would a chunin academy instructor need to have such a clandestine meeting with Hokage - sama's grandson which has the coveted scroll of sealing in the mix as well? What were you planning to do with it? The stench of your pathetic traitorous plans is making me nauseous." said Naruto in a bored tone.

"Che! What do you think I plan to do? With the jutsus in that scroll I will become really powerful in no time and then everyone will fear me." replied Mizuki with an evil grin.

"Tch, pathetic. Do you think it is that easy? No wonder you are still a low level chunin. It takes hard work and devotion to gain power, skills and respect. There are no shortcuts to any of those. What will you do with all those jutsus if you don't have the brains to use them. Why don't I beat some sense into you ... hmm?" Konohamaru was shocked to hear all this. The blond boy was saying the same thing which his grandpa says. '_May be there is some truth to it_' he thought.

"What are you going to do about it with your pathetic skills?" asked Mizuki with a smirk.

"Oh don't worry, I can do a bit of this, a bit of that." said Naruto mysteriously.

"Why don't you try it then, you damn kyuubi. Did you know that you are the kyuubi in human form. You are the monster who killed so many people all those years ago." taunted Mizuki with a look of pure hatred in his eyes. He was trying to unsettle the damn brat so he is shocked and will be easy picking. If that was the effect he expected then it was his turn to be shocked.

"Have you lost the tiny brain you had as well, teme? There is a difference between a prisoner and its prison, teme. Prisoner and prison. The kyuubi is sealed inside of me but both of us are completely different. No need to explain it to you as you are a dead man, after all you did break Hokage - sama's law."

After saying that, Naruto suddenly flicked two kunais towards Mizuki. Mizuki was first surprised by the speed with which the kunais travelled but when both of them passed from either side of his face, he started laughing and said "You are pathetic, after so many years at the academy you can't even hit me".

Naruto just smiled at him when he suddenly heard two poofing sounds behind him. Before he could even turn to look behind him, he found himself being held by two Naruto(s) from both sides who were giving him identical evil grins. He realised his mistake too late that the two kunais were bunshins henge'd. The two Naruto bunshins spoke quietly in his ears, two words which made his blood run cold, "Bunshin Daibakuha". There was a huge explosion and he was dead before his body hit the ground.

Konohamaru was shocked because of what Mizuki said to Naruto, the explosion and seeing a dead body for the first time that too which was missing a couple of limbs. His mind just shut down and he lost consciousness. Naruto sighed and thought about the whole mess Mizuki made. He took Konohamaru from Kichi and dispelled him telling that he will have to go and explain everything to the old man. He went to the Hokage tower and spent two hours explaining everything to the old man. Sarutobi massaged his temples after listening everything and made a mental note to explain everything to Konohamaru properly and ensure that he stops his foolishness. This situation could have become a lot worse had Naruto been not there.

Due to that incident and the subsequent explanation of Konoha's one of the biggest secret, Konohamaru gained a huge respect for the blond shinobi. He was also moved by his words and continuously pestered him to help him with his training. Naruto relented as he already had a soft spot for him because of the way Mizuki deceived him, being related to the old man was just another reason.

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A kunai piercing into your body is a _second_ too late.

As Naruto entered his home, he immediately had a feeling that something was not right. After more than a year of being trained under Mitarashi Anko, his senses were honed to a very great extent. His instincts told him to duck and so he did. He barely dodged from a kunai burying into his forehead and before he could even comprehend what was happening, his body moved on its own accord. His body twisted and his left palm shot out and deflected the next swipe of the kunai and his right hand which was holding a kunai had lodged it into the neck of his foe.

Looking into the eyes of your first kill as his life leaves from them is a _requiem_ to your innocence.

It was over in the span of mere two seconds and the look of shock and horror on the face of the chunin as he died will be etched into his soul till the day his own will perish. He was feeling numb. His limbs were frozen in the same position in which he buried his kunai into his assailant's neck. Blood was pooling on the floor and on his self. The body slumped and with it they both fell on the ground. Those soulless eyes were staring into his lost eyes. He sat there for a long time just looking at the scene. He didn't know what to feel. is he supposed to feel good that he was able to defeat a chunin? Is he supposed to feel horrible that he took a life? Is he supposed to feel sick that he turned out like all the villagers said he would, a monster, as he killed a shinobi of the same village without any emotion? Is he supposed to feel happy that he dished back out what the villagers were trying to serve to him? So many questions and no answers.

A comforting voice in your moment of darkness is an _anchor_ to your soul.

He summoned Kichi without even thinking as it was like a second nature to him. Whenever he had a load on his mind, he would turn to the counsel of his best friend, only one he trusts blindly. Kichi was about to yell to his summoner when the scent of blood hit his nose and he surveyed his surroundings. It didn't take him long to figure out what happened. This situation was bound to happen with the amount of contempt this village had for his brother. He didn't even have to blink before he turned into his "save Naruto's sanity" mode.

"**Are you okay, bro?**"

"What did I do, Kichi? I murdered him without even thinking that I was doing it. My body just moved in auto - pilot. What should I feel, Kichi? Anger at him for trying to end my life or vindictive that he got what he deserved or elated at the success of my training or remorse for taking his life or just this void in my heart that is about to burst me into smithereens? What, Kichi? I am loosing my mind." said a lost and vulnerable Naruto almost pleading Kichi to pull him through.

"**You did what you have been doing all your life, you survived. You _killed _a person who wanted to_ murder you. _He was hurting. He was consumed by his pain and grief. Now, you are hurting. Don't let your pain consume you, only then you are better than them. Feel bad that you had to take his life but find comfort in the hope that his soul will find peace in the afterlife and will not hurt anymore. I know you better than anyone, including you, and I can say for a fact that what you did is justified, it was self - defence. Don't even think that you are turning into a monster. A monster doesn't feel pain after taking a life. A monster kills for pleasure. Don't you ever let anyone make you feel otherwise. You are my friend, my brother, and I will never make a monster my friend. Believe in yourself, in the love of your parents, in the kindness of the hokage, in the affection of Anko and in my belief in you.**"

Naruto calmed down a little. He always did in presence of Kichi. He would have been long gone the deep end, had it not been for the toad sitting beside him. He put his arm around the said toad and said "Happy fucking 12th birthday to me, eh Kichi?"

**_Kichi laughed and said "It sure is fucked up, bro. It sure is."_**

They cleaned up the mess, sealed the body in a storage scroll and took it to the old man. He explained everything to him. The aged kage didn't even raise an eyebrow at the fact that he was able to dispatch a chunin. He was aware of Naruto's training with Anko and also knew that he trained rigorously. The old man told him the same thing that Kichi told him and kept on ensuring that he was fine. They went back to his apartment to find the present from his father, the second letter.

Answers to the questions that have plagued you all your life is _a sip of wine_ to your thirsty soul.

Naruto held the second the letter in his hand and was staring at it with a look of hope, resignation, love, sorrow and longing. Hope of finding the answers. Resignation towards the confirmation to his suspicions. Love for his father, who, if his suspicions were true about his identity, even in great turmoil and impending death, ensured that he had the necessary tools to become a competent shinobi and a friend who saved him from his hate and anger. Sorrow about the fact that he will never be able to see or hug his parents or tell them how much he misses them or loved them. Longing for the moment in his afterlife when they will finally be together again, together with the only two people who loved him unconditionally.

_Dear Son,_

_You are finally 12 years old. Happy birthday, kiddo. I have so many things to say to you and so little time. Should I tell you about the necessary shinobi and clan related issues or should I tell you about how I made a fool of myself by proposing to your mother in the middle of the village and got my ass handed to me by the public declaration of your mother "Even if you were the last man on this planet, I would rather die a virgin." Hehe ... your mother sure was firecracker._

_Enough dodging the kunai. The first thing I should tell you about is your true identity. You are Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato (The great great Yellow Flash of Konoha, hell yeah your old man was kick ass) and Uzumaki Kushina (most beautiful, loveliest and downright scariest kunochi from land of Whirlpools). Anything other than this is secondary. You are first and foremost our son. _

_I'm really sorry for hiding your true identity from you. I know the pain of not knowing who your parents were as I too was an orphan. I also didn't know why was I alone in this world. I always promised myself that I would never let this happen to my child. I would be there at every moment of his/her life. Kami - sama denied me the chance to fulfil my promise and made me leave you all alone in this world. If you ever love someone in your life, don't waste time telling them that or like me you may also not get the chance._

_Your identity is only known to Sandaime, Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin. I hope that either of them take care of you but it may not happen. Jiraiya is your Godfather and if he was not there for you then make him sweat because of it. Make sure that he realise that he had the responsibility for providing for you. But, do train with him as he was my sensei and can teach you a lot.  
_

_I made a lot of enemies in my life. There were people in the village who hated my unorthodox policies. The forces of Iwa were out for my blood because of what I did in the third shinobi war. If your heritage was known to the public then more than this village would be out for your blood, son. So, only claim your heritage when you are confident that you are strong enough to protect yourself and what you hold dear to you._

_Don't be surprised, Naruto. I have seen how fickle human beings can be. I could only hope that you be treated as a hero but even then there would be a faction who would hate you. The only thing left undisclosed is the reason behind this hatred. With your genes, I don't have to assume that you are intelligent and thus you may have figured out that the reason is connected to the Kyuubi as I was the hokage._

_Still, for an accurate account. When Kyuubi attacked the village, your mother went into an early labour while I was looking for a way to defeat the great demon and the shinobis were trying to buy me time. There is only one way to kill a demon. That is, to first bind it to a mortal soul and when the mortal dies then the demon dies with him as well. Now, lesser demons can be defeated and subdued but Kyuubi was an embodiment of chakra and was almost invincible. I was only left with one option, to sacrifice my soul and seal the yin part of Kyuubi's soul in a new born child because its chakra coils are undeveloped and while developing they would be able to adjust to the stress. Being a hokage I couldn't ask someone else to sacrifice their child if I was unable to sacrifice my own._

_So Naruto, my son, the reason that most of the villagers hate you is because I sealed the Kyuubi inside of you. This does not turn you into Kuubi rather you are its prisoner or container. Just suck it up as life is not fair. You do get benefits out of it as well. You should have rapid regenerative abilities, massive chakra as some of the demon's chakra is constantly purified and added to yours, thus the reason for you to constantly work on your control. In times of great distress you may even be able to call for more of its chakra, but this chakra will be demonic. It will make you powerful but will be very harmful for your body as demonic chakra is not for human body._

_Therefore I am warning you, do not rely on the demon's chakra. Rely on your abilities. If you rely on something which is not yours then you will be out of options if that thing is somehow not available to you. A bigger piece of warning is the fact that Kyuubi is known to leave the human race alone and so, its attack on Konoha raises a lot of warning signs regarding its motives. So, keep on your toes whenever Kyuubi is concerned. _

_Now that the serious stuff is out of the way. I have more gifts for ya. Since my last letter I have missed 6 birthdays then I should have at least that many gifts for you, right. OK, so lets see. Two gifts are the scrolls for my most prized techniques, Rasengan and Hirashin. I will advice that you wait till you meet with Jiraiya before you start using either of them in public so that if questioned then you can push the blame onto Jiraiya for teaching those to you._

_Apart from these jutsus, there is a scroll with a lot more jutsus in it. The most important of these is Kage Bunshin no jutsu. This is the best tool for training. Whatever a Kage Bunshin learns in its life time like chakra control, knowledge, katas, etc is all gained by the original except the physical aspect of training. So, you can severely cut down on your training time by the factor of the number or clones you can make. From my personal experience, I can make up to 50 and maintain them for two hours. A word of advice, do not dispel them together or you will regret it. The headache is crippling._

_Sealed with this is also the paperwork for a seperate and anonymous bank account with 50% of my and your mother's wealth. Till the time you claim your heritage, you can use as much money as you want from this account. Spoil yourself. Haha._

_That makes it to 5 gifts. Oh did I forget to mention that you can live in your family house. Get the directions from Sarutobi. It is locked with a blood seal. _

_Live well and long my son. I love you with all my heart. Your mother also loved you. We will see you on the other side, hopefully in 6 to 7 decades. It is time for me to meet our maker. Take care._

_Your father_

_Namikaze Minato._

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A/N: Whew! Damn long chapter. I don't know if the rest will be of this length but lets see. I hope it was worth the wait. I tried to do my best. The events are jumbled in the time line as a tribute to Tarantino for his introduction of non - linear direction in the movie Pulp Fiction. Do drop comments. It is always good to be appreciated.


	5. Somewhere I belong

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto .... blah blah blah !

A/N : Replies to certain reviews.

**thsunami**: Thanks for the information about the probable effects of increasing the gravity. So, to clear up few things, he will not be a superhuman. Minato activated the seal at his birth with an increase in the gravity by only a factor of 1%. By the time he reached the age of 10, the effective gravity was only 1.5 times. In the 3 years till the time he graduated, he has only increased it by .25 per year so now it is 2.25 times. He works rigorously every time he increases the gravity to obtain the previous level of speed, power and proficiency.

**Leaprechaun1**: Kichi is somewhere between two and a half feet to three feet tall.

**lpride21**: We are both entitled to our opinions and I ain't gonna justify my reasons for disliking Sasuke or Sakura nor am I gonna explain why Kakshi was a failure as a sensei as it will result in a useless squabble. However, just so you know I would expect a shinobi like Kakashi, who became a chunin by the age of 6 and a jounin by the age of 12 be capable enough to explain to a genin how to improve his chakra control. Did I bash anyone till now? I said I won't coddle them, I didn't say that I will be bashing them.

**Memory King**: Even I don't like reading about Naruto having emotional insecurities but can't help it. With the amount of scorn and hatred he has faced, and having no friends at all apart from Kichi, he has to have them if I gotta make him believable. About Mizuki being two dimensional, I agree with you but he was portrayed as a braggart in the manga and well I didn't wish to extend that part of the chapter as the chapter was already fucking long.

**Velshard**: Thanx for the description of the Bunshin techniques, i guess. Tried to google it and found references to both Bunshin Bakuha and Daibakuha (Great Explosion Clone Technique).

Anyways folks, here is a new chapter. Hopefully it is up to the standard of the previous one or even exceeds it. When I went through the previous chapter again, I found a lot of mistakes in it. I will try to avoid such mistakes in this one. I also apologise for the long wait but can't help it folks as i am fucking busy. the updates from here on will not be very regular. i will update only when i get time.

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**Chapter 5 : Somewhere I belong**

Sarutobi peered over his crossed fingers at the crowd of jounins assembled in his office. A new batch of genins have graduated and according to the reports provided by Iruka, it was one of the most promising batch in the past few years. Out of the genin teams formed last year, only one team stood out from the lot and it was the one which was under the most eccentric jounin, Maito Gai. There was another team but it only had a Hyuuga who was said to have shown great potential. He will get to see all this talent in action in the chunin exams in eight months which were being held in Konoha. The advantage of the home ground will definitely prompt most of the jounin senseis to nominate them for the exam. However, now is not the time to ponder over this.

He cleared his throat to get the gathered jounins to quiet down. He was hoping to get this over with as soon as possible as the meeting with the council, then Naruto and a consecutive one with his grandson have already tired him. As it was expected, during the council meeting, Inoichi, Chouza and Shikaku wanted to have their respective heirs in the same team. He definitely had no objection to that. Their generation's Ino-Shika-Cho team was legendary in their own right. The civilian council predictably wanted Sasuke to be apprenticed under the Sharingan Kakashi. He denied it completely, explaining that the Uchiha has to learn how to operate in a team. The boy was way too stiff and reclusive for his own good. Thankfully, Naruto's plan was working tremendously well as no one even bothered to protest against his graduation. They might be hoping that he would die as soon as he goes on a high ranked mission as his skills were "pathetic".

"As you all must be aware that there is a recent batch of genins who have graduated from the academy, I have asked all of you to come here to find who all are interested in being jounin senseis this year. Also, if you have any preferences regarding any particular genin(s) to be on your team. Before any of you start bickering, the council has specifically asked that Uchiha Sasuke be in Kakashi's team. It is also practical as he will be able to teach him the workings of the Sharingan whenever the young boy obtains it. Also, in case of any conflict over choices, the decision will be made according to the seniority of the jounins. However, needless to say, my decision will be final. So, who all are volunteering?" asked Sarutobi.

"As long as I get Sasuke, I have no other preferences." said Kakashi while thinking to himself '_Finally Obito, I will train him. I owe it to you._'

"May be, it will be fun to train this generation of Ino-Shika-Cho." said Sarutobi Asuma thoughtfully. This did make quite a few of junior jounins groan as all thought that training a team which has already been effective in the previous generation would surely be a successful effort.

"As neither the stupid council nor you will allow me to get an apprentice, for completely different reasons, I don't wish to babysit three green genins." stated Mitarashi Anko startling most of the people present with the information that she was willing to take an apprentice. Several of them also voiced their curiosity asking the gorgeous snake mistress who has caught her interest. "Wouldn't you like to know?" replied Anko with a smirk.

"I would like to have Hyuuga Hinata in my team as I have known her since the time she started at the academy." requested a stunning kunoichi, Yuhi Kurenai. Even though she was not as senior as few of the jounins present in the room, no one protested against this. The reason behind this was the fact that everyone knew that the Hyuuga heiress was very timid and was said to be unsuitable as a kunoichi by her own clan. No one wanted to put a lot of effort in the hopes of her being a late bloomer.

"I see. I have decided what will be the teams. Team 7 will comprise of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba under the leadership of Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 will comprise of Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Uzumaki Naruto under the leadership of Yuhi Kurenai. Team 10 will comprise of Yamanka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouzi under the leadership of Sarutobi Asuma. Team 11 will comprise of ...." said Sarutobi while giving the teams for the remaining 18 students.

"You all will meet your team tomorrow at noon. You may judge their worth as genins according to your own criterion. If anyone doesn't have any objection, then you all are dismissed." commanded Sarutobi. Immediately all the jounins left his office except one. The young woman waited till everyone left and then faced him. "Do you have a problem with your team, Kurenai?" asked Sarutobi with a very subtle but dangerous glint in his voice wondering if she had a problem with Naruto.

Kurenai's body tensed as it was never a wise decision to get on the wrong side of _The Professor_. "None at all, Hokage - sama. I only wished to have a look at the files of my students. I would like to have an idea of their skills before I meet them. Also, I do not mean any disrespect but wouldn't it be better to have the Inuzuka boy on my team instead of Uzumaki. I have no ill will towards him but he isn't known to have any skills to support the team. I just thought that with Inuzuka, the team will be a perfect reconnaissance team." replied Kurenai respectfully.

"In your case, Kurenai - chan, the files are of no use. You are well aware of Hinata's skills. Shino is like a regular Aburame, intelligent and observant. Naruto will be the biggest surprise for you, however. I am trusting you to not disclose the information I am about to impart on you to anyone. I can tell you without any shred of doubt that Naruto is by far the strongest genin in the current batch. Even I am not aware of the full extent of his skills. His position in your team is that of a combat specialist for the situation when the shit hits the fan. I have specifically selected this team. Shino, like all Aburames, is avoided by his peers as most of them find his kikai bugs creepy. Hinata is like an outcast in her own clan due to her lack of skills. I don't need to tell you about Naruto. All three of them know what it is like to be alone and to be singled out. This is a team of pariahs. It is my belief that they will find acceptance and friends in each other. Heed my warning, Kurenai - chan, don't ever break Naruto's trust or you will never get a second chance. On the other hand if you gain his trust, you will have a person who will even fight an army and give his life just to save yours. He is a very lonely boy. He needs people who care for him even if he denies it. Above all, you are the most appropriate sensei for him as he has almost no skill in genjutsu." cautioned Sarutobi.

Kurenai was stunned with what she has just been told. She had a lot to think about. She quickly thanked the Hokage and left in anticipation of the new phase of her life which will begin tomorrow. Sarutobi sighed. He has done his part and now it was all up to those four.

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A cacophony of voices assaulted his ears as he entered the classroom, probably for the last time in his life. Everywhere, the graduates were chatting happily with each other. The fan-girls were as annoying as ever, thankfully, he was not in the shoes of the Uchiha. He could not even begin to comprehend a way in which he would have dealt with the lot of them. Then there were the few quiet ones who liked to keep to themselves, some, because of their own reasons while others, due to the ignorance of their peers. At one point in his life, he belonged to the latter sect, however, now he preferred to be in the former one. Regardless of everything, there were quite a few number of graduates who had a lot of potential.

As was his routine, he made his way to the far corner at the back of the class. No one ever bothered him and he never tried to acquire their attention. His time here has been simple, don't attract any attention to himself. However, now he will have to be on a team with two other graduates and a jounin sensei. He wondered, if he will get a neutral team or with people who hate him. The old man and Anko - chan have already asked him to give his teammates a chance before he out-rightly disregards them. That gave him a food for thought. If he disregarded them without even giving them a chance then he will be acting like the pathetic villagers. He detested even the thought of him having any resemblance to the ignorant populace of Konoha. May be, just may be, his teammates may not be prejudiced.

As Iruka entered the classroom, he asked the class to be quiet. Absence of Mizuki was not missed by most of the class. Due to the foolish actions of that moron, he had to now put up with that brat. Though, his presence did bring a refreshing change to his monotonous life. He guessed that there may still be hope for few people in the village. Before Iruka could begin his congratulatory speech, a student asked the question which was there on a lot of students' minds. "Where is Mizuki - sensei?"

Iruka sighed and replied that Mizuki has been relocated to a new assignment. After saying that Iruka gave an almost imperceptible nod towards him which was missed by most of the students. Iruka gave his customary congratulatory speech and told them about their team assignments.

So, he was on a team with the shy Hyuuga heiress and the ever stoic Aburame heir. The former had eyes which were to be respected and were one of the best tools for scouting and information gathering which however, was dependent on the user's control over their Byakugan. Their taijutsu was also very formidable. The latter on the other hand was one of the most fearsome shinobi in the class. The basic ability of the Aburame clan was to drain a person of his chakra. However, the most fearsome ability for which they were feared throughout the world was their ability to obtain information with the help of their kikai bugs from a long distance without even being present there. After all, in the shinobi world, information was like gold. Due to this an Aburame was never allowed to be present in a diplomatic meeting in territories foreign to Konoha.

Before he could continue to ponder about his new teammates, a beautiful red eyed woman entered the class and asked Team 8 to join her. He saw a flicker of recognition in the eyes of the Hyuuga heiress but neither of the females made any attempt to converse. The team followed their sensei in complete silence. Within a span of fifteen minutes they reached a deserted training ground where their sensei finally stopped. She motioned them to sit on the ground and herself sat in front of them.

"Hi. Why don't we start with simple introductions .. hmm? My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I have been assigned as your Jounin sensei. My field of expertise is in genjutsu and infiltration. I like learning and creating new genjutsus, painting, reading and spending time with my friends. I dislike people who do not treat others with respect. My aim is to ensure that you three become competent shinobis and that I help the three of you to attain your goals to the best of my capabilities." said Kurenai. She didn't miss the spark in Uzumaki's eyes when she mentioned about genjutsu as if he has solved a puzzle. She looked expectantly towards her students.

"Ano ... My name is Hyuga Hinata. I like cooking, pressing flowers and learning about medicinal herbs. I want to take care of my younger sister and become a good clan leader so that I can make my father and clan proud" spoke Hinata shyly, stuttering all the while and poking her index fingers together nervously.

"My name is Aburame Shino. I like observing bugs and collecting new species of bugs. My goal is to become a competent shinobi to successfully lead my clan in the future and serve Konoha to the best of my capabilities." stated Shino monotonously.

Naruto observed the glaring differences between his two teammates. The Hyuga heiress was shy and unsure of herself. She wished to achieve few things but didn't have any confidence to actually hope that she will be able to do them. The Aburame heir on the other hand was confident in himself and mentioned his goals in a matter-of-fact tone. It was now his turn.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like spending time with the few people I care about and training. My goal is to become strong enough to protect what is precious to me and those who cannot protect themselves. I hate people who mistreat others and take advantage of helpless people." said Naruto with as little emotion as he could.

"That was a good start. We will be spending a lot of time together and will get to know each other better over the time. It is my wish that in time we will be able to consider our team as a family. Now, generally at this point, a genin team is given a test by their sensei to judge if they are worthy to be made genins. I, on the other hand, do not believe in that system. What are the most important aspects of a team and its members?" asked Kurenai to her students, expectantly.

"A team should have good co-ordination." said Shino.

"For a team to be strong, each member should strive to be strong, individually." said Naruto. Kurenai nodded to both of their answers and then looked towards Hinata. The said girl bowed her head as she became the focus of every ones attention. She nervously started playing with her fingers.

"Ano ... we should care and look out for our teammates." said Hinata.

"Each of you presented with a very good quality. A team is as strong as its members. However, without any co-ordination between its members, a smarter opponent will be able to disable the entire team by making use your individual weaknesses. Thus, when we work in a team we balance the weaknesses of our teammates. Above all, we should have trust in each other. If we do not trust each other, then we will have doubts about the success of our teammates and consequently of the team. The test which is generally given to a new genin team is to gauge if they can work as a team. I believe that teamwork is developed and does not emerge out of nowhere."

"Therefore, everyday we will meet here at 8.00 am sharp. Then for one hour we will do exercises to warm up. After that we will go to the Hokage tower and get a mission. Initially these will be D - rank missions which are simple chores that are to be completed as team building exercises. We will be doing only one D - rank mission everyday. Also, we will only move on to higher ranked mission when I deem you three ready for them as a team."

"Once we complete the mission and have lunch, we will meet here again. Then for two hours each of you will spar with each other to get to know others fighting style, strengths and weaknesses. Then we will work on possible attack patterns and defensive positions. After that while we cool down, I will give you a mission scenario and you each will come up with possible ways of approaching the mission. This will make you aware of all the options available to you. After that is the time for personal training. Now, Shino and Hinata, I know you people have your clan trainings but I will be happy to help you with anything you wish to work with independently. Naruto, if you have your own training then I have no problem but the same offer is open to you. However, I would specifically like to instruct the three of you on my fields of expertise. Do any of you have any questions?" asked Kurenai.

Neither of them asked any question. Although all three were having a myriad of thoughts buzzing in their mind. Hinata was thinking how her father will react to her team training cutting into their own personal training time. She was also thinking if she will be able to contribute anything to the team.

Shino was thinking about his teammates. His thoughts were specifically centred on the blond shinobi sitting beside of him. Throughout the years at the academy he had observed various intriguing facts about him. He was the village pariah and most of the village talked ill about him. On the other hand he was acknowledged by the Hokage. While his academy records were below mediocre but he was always reading about things which were way above the curriculam. Also, Iruka sensei acknowledged him for something related to Mizuki sensei's absence. One thing was sure that he definitely hid his true skills. He sure was an enigma.

Naruto also had a lot of things to think about. The old man and Anko were definitely correct in saying that his teammates may be different. Neither looked at him with hate rather Kurenai - sensei actually offered to train him. He will have to wait and see what is actually the truth. Though, if the offer was actually genuine then he will finally be able to work on his most glaring weakness, Genjutsu. As soon as his sensei mentioned that she was a Genjutsu expert, he immediately understood why he was assigned to her team. After all, the old man was quite aware of his skills in that sphere or lack of.

As they didn't have any questions, Kurenai dismissed them. As they were leaving, she called out to Naruto and asked him if he could wait for few more minutes. When they were alone, she said to him "Naruto, I think it would be wise that I assure you from the beginning that I hold no ill will towards you, like many of the villagers."

To her immense surprise he replied, "I appreciate your being straightforward on the issue of Kyuubi being sealed inside of me. I had my doubts but few people asked me to keep an open mind."

Before they could continue their conversation, Naruto's eyes suddenly became wide and then he smirked. He swiftly turned to his right and grabbed the kunai which was flying towards him and spun with his left foot as the pivot and flicked the kunai right back from where it came from. Kurenai's eyebrows raised at the impressive display of skills which were definitely chunin level. Before she could comment on it, she saw Anko standing beside Naruto with a smirk on her face.

"Not bad, gaki, not bad at all. I may finally have to actually try." came a taunting comment from the scantily clad kunoichi.

"Do get down from your high horse, Anko - chan or I may actually beat you into submission one of these days." came a confident reply from Naruto.

"As if. I am a Special Jounin for a reason, gaki. You are still way out of your league. Anyways I just came to ask where do you want to celebrate your assignment on a team. How about some dango .. hmm?" said Anko.

"All you ever want to eat is dango. Sigh! I will see you there in an hour. Arigato Kurenai - sensei, for your words. I will take your leave." said Naruto and left via shunshin shocking Kurenai even more.

"Ain't he something, eh Kurenai - chan?" mused Anko.

"Is he the one you wanted to take as an apprentice, Anko?" asked Kurenai.

"Hai. I have been training with him for over two years now. The council would never allow me to take an apprentice while Hokage - sama wouldn't have allowed because he wanted Naruto to be a part of a team so that he may be able to make few friends." replied Anko shocking Kurenai but it did answer why Hokage - sama claimed that Naruto was the strongest genin.

"So, how good is he?"

"Seriously, I don't know. He trains a lot on his own. I have only helped him with few things but he is really good, probably mid - high chunin level. His chakra capacity is huge and that is why he doesn't have great control. I would advise you to help him improve on that and also in detecting, applying and dispelling genjutsu. His skills are abysmal in that. Anyways I am off to celebrate with the brat. Don't be a stranger, Kurenai - chan." admonished Anko playfully.

"Look who is talking." scoffed Kurenai as Anko departed. Kurenai sighed and thought that she had a lot to think about. One thing was sure that she had her work cut out for her. She will have to work on improving Hinata's confidence, try and solve the puzzle, Uzumaki Naruto and if even possible then to open up the stoic Aburame.

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For the following two weeks they trained together and did a single D - rank mission everyday. Within that time, each of them was able to gain a general idea of each others basic skill set and preferred fighting patterns. During the sparring, Naruto used his perfected academy taijutsu style while Shino used his clan taijutsu style which relied on trying to sap out their enemy's chakra while delivering physical blows themselves. Hinata, on the other hand, used the gentle fist but without any chakra to compound with it. The result was that she would only lightly tap the places to show that she could have injured them there, otherwise just parried their blows. As she was a really kind individual she could not bring herself to hurt her teammates. This would change today, however.

Once they finished their mission for the day, they returned to the training ground. Since the day they began training and doing missions as a team, Hinata brought bento for everyone. As she mentioned that she liked to cook, she just made enough for everyone and insisted them to have it. Kurenai and Shino accepted her offer with kind words, however, Naruto was not used to such kindness from a stranger. This very simple act by Hinata made him care for her a little. Also, she was so shy that it appeared that she was really vulnerable inside. Before he even knew it, he started caring for her and already felt a little protective of her. His only experience with people who were not older than him, was with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. With them he understood what the old man felt for him, always trying to help him and look after him. He started feeling the same for his timid teammate. The offer made by Kurenai already put her in the list of the people he cared about. Shino was his Aburame self, showing almost no emotion and being professional but he could see his genuine concern for his teammates in his own nonchalant way. The very fact that all three didn't have even an ounce of hatred towards him was piercing through his defenses.

As they finished the simple but exotic lunch prepared by Hinata, it was time for sparring. Today the first match was between Hinata and himself. He readied himself and saw Hinata activating her Byakugan. They stood there for a couple of seconds but he knew that he will have to make the first move as Hinata was never the aggressor. He quickly reduced the distance between them and threw a jab with his left fist followed by a straight punch with his right fist. Hinata twisted her body and avoided both of them and lightly tapped his thigh. He simply crouched low and tried to kick her legs from below her. Hinata flipped backwards gracefully. Naruto stood back up and contemplated over the fact that Hinata did tap his thigh but it didn't hinder him in anyway. He had a rudimentary idea about how the gentle fist worked and knew that it was really formidable. His thoughts went over the last two weeks and every time Hinata sparred she never put chakra into her hits. He knew he had to do something drastic so that Hinata takes this seriously as he knew with her kind disposition she would not survive in the real world. He was in no way ready to loose a person he has started to consider a precious one.

He dropped his stance and turned around to go and sit down at the base of a tree. Everyone was perplexed and even Shino in a rare moment, raised an eyebrow questioningly. Hinata was startled more than others as she immediately assumed that she must have done something wrong. She quickly tried to apologize so that Naruto doesn't get angry with her. "Naruto - kun, what is the matter? I am sorry if I did something wrong." she said nervously and stuttering all the while.

"I cannot accept your apology Hinata - san. Accepting it without you even realizing the fault would be fruitless." said Naruto shocking everyone.

"Can you please tell me what I did wrong, Naruto - kun? I will definitely not do it again." said Hinata with a hint of determination in her voice as she cared for her team and didn't want to be the cause of discomfort to any of them.

"Are you sure about that, Hinata - san? If I asked you to hit me with a full powered junken strike, will you be able to do it?" asked Naruto seriously. He saw Hinata's determination totally vanish and replaced by uncertainty. Kurenai and Shino on the other hand finally understood what Naruto was doing and were really thankful for the same. They both wanted to break this habit of Hinata but didn't know how to approach it. Their respect for Naruto increased. Naruto sighed and knew that he will have to help Hinata with this.

"Hinata - san, at this juncture there is no point in sparring with you. It is neither beneficial to you nor to us. In the last two weeks all three of us have become quite familiar with your fighting style, its strengths and weaknesses. I am sure that Shino - san and I do not show our complete skills as neither is it required to fight that seriously nor do you present us with the challenge. However, that does not mean that we do not spar seriously. We spar intensely while you on the other hand shy away from it. I am not telling you this to hurt or demean you. I am pretty sure that you are far stronger than what we perceive but that is not acceptable. You are disrespecting our efforts by not fighting us seriously. You use gentle fist though you do not use junken with it. What if, we have to face a Hyuuga missing nin and you are not there to help us. We will not be ready to actually understand what we will be facing and how disabling gentle fist can actually be. I understand that you do not want to hurt us but we spar and train seriously because here we are preparing for the real situations. So that in a real fight we instinctively are aware of what to do and what not to do. I assure you that we are strong enough to deal with a little bit of pain. The pain felt during the training helps us grow strong. We are not playing ninja-ninja like the kids in the park. Until you are ready to fight me seriously, I am not going to spar with you." said Naruto and sat down.

Kurenai moved over to Hinata and placed a hand on her shoulder. She squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and said, "He is correct, Hinata - chan. I know it is not in your nature to hurt others but when you go on missions you will have to hurt others to save your teammates. He is not asking you to kill him rather he wants you to show your skills. All of us take pride in each others accomplishments and strengths. When you do not act, others are liable to see you as weak. I know you want to be strong, so this is your chance to prove your conviction." She smiled at Hinata kindly and then resumed her position at a training log. Hinata went over everything that was said to her. She remembered when she was unable to hurt her sister and was defeated soundly, the look of disgust in her sister's eyes and the look of disappointment in her father's eyes shattered her heart. She did not want to see the same look in her teammates' eyes. When she looked up, she saw Kurenai smiling at her, Shino nodded at her encouragingly and Naruto looked at her expectantly. She set her jaw in a determined look and went towards her blond teammate. She bowed and said, "I apologize, Naruto - kun. I was not aware that my inaction was hurting you even more than what my action would have. Let us spar seriously from now on."

For the first time she saw a genuine smile on her teammate's face which turned into a smirk as he said "Apology accepted. Show me what the coveted gentle fist is capable of." Then he took his stance. After a span of five minutes he was lying on his back with tenketsus on his arms and legs closed. Hinata was standing while panting a little and relatively unhurt. She was about to apologize when Naruto spoke up.

"That's more like it, Hinata - chan. That was an amazing spar." He moved into a sitting position when Kurenai and Shino started clapping. She blushed and hurriedly moved towards Naruto to open his tenketsus. She was showered with praise from the other three. It was the first step in building up of her confidence. From that day onwards, the sparring sessions became more serious and Hinata's strength and confidence increased in leaps.

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It has been a month since they all became Team 8. All of them have improved a lot under Kurenai's tutelage. She had kept her word and taught them a lot about infiltration and the theory about applying and detecting genjutsu. She explained to them that it is applied by invading chakra into the chakra coils of the target with subtlety and for that they required good chakra control. It was found that due to clan training both, Shino and Hinata have mastered water walking and had great chakra control. Naruto, on the other hand, even after successfully accomplishing the same exercise only had enough control that his chakra wastage while doing jutsus was minimal. He was still unable to use minute amounts of chakra. Thus, he didn't have the control to pull off gunjutsu while Kurenai taught few of the basic ones to the other two.

This was the first thing she rectified in case of Hinata and Shino. She acknowledged that they were proficient in their clan techniques, but she stressed that every technique had its flaws. She explained that while Hinata is good in a close range fight, she would actually be quite helpless against a long range fighter. Similarly, Shino's kikai bugs were totally useless against someone who had a huge chakra capacity or was proficient in Katon jutsus. They both accepted the said flaws and learnt other techniques as well. The first thing she taught all three of them was a camouflage jutsu for infiltration purposes.

When she explained how to dispel genjutsu, both, Hinata and Shino had the advantage due to their kekkai genkai. Even then, she went into the description of how to disrupt their chakra flow as there are always higher level genjutsus which may overcome their advantages. Naruto was unable to learn this as his chakra coils had a lot of chakra and he didn't have the control to disrupt the flow. He was even unable to disperse a chakra impulse as he was unable to suppress his chakra to the extent to build it up for an impulse. She ultimately told him that by hurting himself he will be able to dispel it but cautioned him that it may or may not work on higher levels of illusions especially few of the doujutsu based ones. Though, she promised him that she will regularly work with him to try and find a way to overcome this handicap.

Today, Kurenai gave them the day off and in order to celebrate their one month together as a team invited them for a dinner at an expensive restaurant. They were to meet in front of the establishment at 18:30. Kurenai was the first one to arrive followed by Shino and Hinata. They were all dressed in a semi formal attire. They were waiting for their last teammate when a boy appeared in front of them. He was also dressed semi formally however, neither was he blond nor he had whisker marks on his cheeks. They immediately recognized him while Shino and Hinta were surprised at the subtle henge, Kurenai realized what was the reason behind it. He spoke before either of them could say anything, "It would be wise that I keep up the henge as I am not welcome in most of the establishments."

Hinata was confused while Shino was even more intrigued with his teammate. Kurenai on the other hand decided to take charge of the situation. "Naruto, kindly drop the henge. I will not take no for an answer. Do not worry about anything, I will take care of any unpleasant situation, if it ever arise. You are my student and I will ensure that no one insults you." Naruto nodded and dropped the henge as he saw that there was no way that Kurenai - sensei would compromise on this. As they reached the main door, before the doorman could even utter a word against Naruto, he found that he could not breathe properly. Kurenai was directing quite a moderate amount of killing intent towards him and the look in her eyes told him that if he even uttered a single wrong word, he will be in a world of pain. He quickly slid the wooded door open.

As soon as they entered the restaraunt, a smiling man appeared in front of Kurenai and addressed her, "Ah Yuhi - sama, your usual table is ready for you." While he was welcoming Kurenai his gaze moved over to her guests and when he saw that Naruto was also present, his expression suddenly changed and was about to complain when Kurenai spoke threateningly.

"Shinto - san, I would advise you to choose your words very carefully now. These three are my genin students and if you happen to disrespect even one of them, then indirectly you would disrespect me. You wouldn't want to do that, I presume." The man's eyes widened as Kurenai was a very prominent client. He shook his head. "Good, I knew you are smart enough to put a leash on your own tongue. Now, think before you send someone at our table as I am running out of patience. Do I make myself clear?" asked Kurenai. The man quickly nodded and cleared their way.

Once the meal was finished, Kurenai spoke "Hinata, I've known you for around six years and during that time I became quite attached to you. I volunteered to become a jounin sensei as I wished to be the one, to help you in becoming the kunoichi you want to become. However, that did not mean that I ever thought of neglecting the other two members of the team. After spending an entire month as a part of Team 8, I am really happy to say that it has been a very pleasant experience. All three of you have grown immensely during this time and will only improve further with time. In around 6 to 7 months, Konoha will be hosting the chunin exams and if each one of you keep on improving with the speed you have been, I will be happy to give you a chance to participate in the said exam. Usually rookie genin teams are not given this chance but impress me enough, and I will give you this opportunity."

The three genins reacted very differently. Hinata had a red tinge to her cheeks, as she was singled out but was really happy that her sensei was proud of her skills. Shino was as stoic as ever but gave a small nod towards Kurenai. Naruto gave a small smile as he was pleased with the fact that Kurenai was willing to give him a way to advance in the ranks.

"We will do our best to earn that opportunity, then." said Shino, surprising everyone as he generally doesn't speak much. "If I may, I would like to make a proposition to all of you. I would like to place one of my female kikkai bug on each of your person. It is entirely for the purpose to locate either one of you, in case of emergency. Also, if ever, one of you are in danger, I will be notified with utmost haste. They will only require to consume a very minuscle amount of your chakra."

Kurenai was aware of this ability of Aburames as she has previously worked with them. She was flattered with the offer as she knew that Aburames do not offer this lightly and was genuinely happy with the gesture of acceptance from Shino. She immediately agreed to it and so did Hinata without much thought.

Naruto, on the other hand, was re-evaluating his perception of his comrade. He was already affected by Hinata's caring nature and Kurenai's tireless efforts to help him with genjutsu. Now, this offer by Shino obliterated the final wall of indifference towards his team. He finally realized that there may still be more people in this village who may accept him.

"I will be happy to accept your offer, Shino - san. I would also like to give something to the three of you." said Naruto and passed a pouch to each of them. "In each of these pouches, you will find four bands. I have not apprised you of this but I am quite knowledgeable in fuuin jutsus. These are chakra weights and will help in improving your speed, strength and stamina. During a fight they are easy to disable by simply removing the chakra in them. I hope they are helpful to you."

The remaining three members were really surprised by this as chakra weights were really difficult to create as they required quite considerable amount of talent in sealing techniques. This fact made them quite expensive and rare comodity. Needless to say, their respect for their mysterious teammate and his skills only increased.

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"Anko - chan, I am almost there with this cursed seal. It seems that Orochimaru somehow managed to infuse two different types of chakra into your chakra coils. Nature of one of them is to destroy your body from the inside by attacking the nervous system. It will also give you more strength and chakra momentarily, quite similar to the effect of opening of the celestial gates. As it attacks your nervous system, the second chakra immediately attacks the mind. I believe that the second chakra is of Orochimaru. It is this chakra that gives him control over you. I need a little more time for analyzing the seal and I assure you that bastard will never have any control over you."

"Arigato, Naruto - kun. You have no idea what this means to me."

"Don't worry about it, Anko - chan. I will always do what I can, for you."

"Aren't you a charmer, Naruto - kun?" said Anko with a smile while ruffling Naruto's hair.

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It has been a little more than five months since Naruto graduated from the academy. Team 8 was standing in front of the Hokage for receiving their usual D - rank mission.

"Hokage - sama, Team 8 reporting for a mission." said Kurenai.

"Ah, Kurenai - chan. Right on time as usual. Which one of the D - rank missions would you like to take?" asked Sarutobi.

"If you don't mind, Hokage - sama, I think my team is ready for a C - rank mission."

"Hmm ... I see you are confident in your students' abilities. I think I have the perfect mission for your team." said Sarutobi and handed a scroll to Kurenai.

"Arigato Hokage - sama" said Kurenai and looked over the mission. She turned towards her team and said "Get ready for a mission of a duration of a week or two and meet me at the West Gate in an hour." The trio nodded and left to prepare for the mission.

"Hokage - sama." said Kurenai respectfully and left by a shunshin.

The team met just under an hour. If anyone looked at Team 8 then they would have thought that they were moving for a regular mission as none of them seemed to have any luggage with them. This was because of the storage scrolls provided by Naruto to them.

"Ok, listen up. We have to meet a contact of Hokage - sama at the second port city of Nami no Kuni from where ships leave for Mizu no Kuni. The mission objective is simply to receive payment for an earlier mission. As this mission concerns about money payment, then be on your guard for bandits and even an occasional nuke nin. The contact is also a shinobi as well. Remember well, where there is one shinobi, then there are always possibilities of presence of more shinobis. Having said that, the mission should be a simple payment retrieval mission. It will be a two to three days journey. Lets move out." said Kurenai.

Three days later, after resting for the previous night in a motel, Team 8 was standing at the rendezvous point, a broken down warehouse near the main port. A man approached them from the other end of the road. From his stance, they could make out that he was nervous and was looking over his shoulder, every now and then. This immediately put the team on the guard and Kurenai narrowed her eyes she didn't find the situation to be a simple payment. Something was definitely amiss.

"Death smiles on all of us ... " asked Kurenai.

"What a man can do is just smile back (A/N: One of my favourite quote from the movie Gladiator)." replied their contact. Both of them relaxed slightly when their identities were confirmed. The man passed a storage scroll to Kurenai and said, "Here is the payment that I owe Sarutobi. I also have a very important information for him. We do not have much time, you should leave with utmost haste. Tell him ... "

Before the man could tell Kurenai anything, a huge water dragon attacked both of them. Kurenai immediately flipped back towards her team and the man followed her but landed a few feet away from Team was a group of 5 shinobis standing in front of them. The apparent leader of the group spoke "Now, now, Hikaru - _sama_. It is not nice to attend a private meeting and leave without even saying anything."

The leader turned his head towards the remaining mist shinobis and said "I will deal with the traitor. Dispose of the tree-huggers. Make it quick. MOVE!."

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The moment Naruto laid eyes on the mist shinobis, he knew that only one group is going to stay alive by the end of this day. From the get go, he knew he will be no match for the leader. Others he was not sure. Fortunately for him, the leader and Hikaru were already fighting furiously. He looked at Kurenai - sensei and had enough time to see her giving him a nod and engaging the one who was leading the remaining mist shinobis. There was no time for formulating any plans or anything. As he observed the three shinobis, he realized that they are not very worried. They must be thinking that Team 8 was just a rookie genin team which is totally unprepared for any battle. This will be advantageous for his team. One of the opponents was considerably stronger than the other two. Also, it seems that he was more experienced than the other two and his team as well. He will have to take care of him or he will be able to take advantage of his teammates' lack of experience. He spoke to his teammates.

"Hinata, Shino, I will take care of the one on the left. You two will have to handle the remaining two. In this case if we fight as a team then that guy will be able to help the other two and may be able to overpower either of you momentarily. Just fight as we have trained. And Hinata - chan, do not hold back because neither of them will hesitate to kill us. Take care. Will see you in a bit."

Naruto disabled his gravity seal as well as the chakra weights. There was no point in holding back. Before giving any chance to the other three he rapidly did the seals and extended his palms towards them, and shouted "**Futon: Diatopa**". He deliberately shouted the jutsu name so that the other three braced themselves for the impact. This will ensure that they are distracted for a while and would give him enough time to engage with his target and separate that guy and himself from the remaining four.

Thus began an intense taijutsu fight between the two of them. He was a notch faster than his foe, however, his opponent made up for it with his incredible strength. The battle continued for two to three minutes without either of them gaining a hit. Naruto's opponent was getting frustrated as he didn't expect Naruto to give him this much trouble. Naruto observed that his foe was moving his hand towards his lower back. It was then Naruto realized that his opponent had a wakazashi strapped to his lower back.

Before Naruto could react, his foe had already swung his wakazashi diagonally upwards and he had a cut across his chest which was bleeding considerably. Naruto took out two kunais and held them in a reverse grip. The man again swung the wakazashi but this time from his left to right. Naruto blocked the blade with both the kunais as he was mismatched in strength. The man suddenly removed the wakazashi, making him advantage of Naruto's lack of balance he swept Naruto's legs from under him. This was followed by a strong kick to Naruto's mid section which made him skid for 10 feet. While Naruto was breathing heavily, recovering from the blow, his foe rushed towards him to deliver the final blow. Naruto immediately flipped backwards by doing a hand stand. The man faltered a bit but before he could react, Naruto sent an overpowered **Futon: Renkudan** towards him while he was still in mid flip which hit him square on the chest and hurled him into a wall of the warehouse.

The man got up painfully and coughed up blood. He winced and was sure that couple of ribs were cracked, if not broken, because of the futon jutsu hitting him dead on. By this time the cut on Naruto's chest was almost healed and he had recovered from the brutal kick to his chest. Naruto didn't wish to extend this fight as he may be required to assist others. Naruto could not use Bunshin Daibakuha as it will attract the remaining four shinobis' attention. That he didn't want as he wanted to take them out quickly which would be only possible if they are unaware of the fact that he has won his fight. Both of them eyed each other.

Naruto moved into action and did the seals for **Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu** and sent a huge ball of fire towards his foe who was still wincing. The man's eyes widened by a fraction as he realized the size of the fireball rushing towards him. He could not evade to the sides due to its size and could not flip backwards as he was backed up to the wall. There was nothing to use for Kawarami, thus his only option was to use **Suiton: Suijinheki** and thankfully they were on a port, so ocean water would serve as a source of water. He pushed a little extra chakra into the defensive wall of water to escape from being burnt alive.

As he released the suiton jutsu, he berated himself for using a jutsu which blinded him as he heard Naruto muttering **Doton: Doryuso**. He was pinned to the wall with two spikes which extended from the ground two feet in front of him. The spikes went through his shoulders and left his hands useless. He was at the mercy of Naruto. Naruto didn't spare him a glance as he activated **Kaze no Yaiba** and decapitated his opponent. Naruto had more important things to worry about. He had to ensure that his teammates were all right.

Naruto took off towards the direction he saw Shino and Hinata fighting earlier. He was just in time to see Shino falling from a kunai to his shoulder followed by a kick to the ribs. Shino's opponent wasn't in any better shape. While Shino was down for a moment, his opponent turned just in time to see his friend receive a junken strike to the heart by Hinata and crumbling to the ground. Enraged at his comrade's death he lashed out at Hinata and sent an already exhausted Hinata sailing into a tree trunk. Hinata hit her head hard and lost consciousness. Naruto didn't give the guy any chance to advance on either of his teammates and decapitated him as well with his blade of wind.

After checking that Shino and Hinata were not in any immediate danger, he looked around to locate Kurenai - sensei and their contact. He couldn't find his sensei and assumed that she must be under a genjutsu and fighting her opponent. Though, he found the contact being hard pressed against the leader of the mist shinobis. Naruto knew if he didn't help the man out, he won't be amongst the living for very long. He reached the duo just in time to intercept a swing of the leader's katana with his wind blade. Had he been even a second late he would have a headless contact.

Hikaru taking advantage of the genin's interference, made to stab the leader with a kunai but the mist jounin was skilled and evaded a strike to the heart but got stabbed in the left shoulder. The mist jounin winced but endured and delivered a shattering kick to Naruto's abdomen and without stopping delivered a roundhouse kick to Hikaru's temple, leaving him in a daze. With his left hand out of commission, he was only able to use his katana but that was enough, as mist shinobis were renowned for their swordsmanship. Not giving Hikaru any time to recover, the leader drove his katana into the right side of the chest of Hikaru. With already a deep cut in the abdomen, Hikaru was on his last leg. The second stab ensured that he will be dead in a few moments. Both the veteran shinobis were exhausted and tired.

In the meanwhile, Naruto recovered from the kick and flicked a kunai towards the leader which managed to cut his achilles tendon of a leg and made him drop down to the knees. Hikaru with his last bit of strength flicked a kunai towards the distracted jounin. The kunai pierced him right between the eyes and he was dead before his body hit the ground.

Naruto rushed to the side of the contact. When he reached Hikaru, he knew that Hikaru only have precious few seconds left. Hikaru indicated him to lean forward towards his mouth and tried to give him the information. He said while coughing up blood with every word "Tell ... Sarutobi .... aim ... capture ... bijuu .... alive ... Uchiha ... Ma ...". Hikaru died before he could finish giving Naruto the information. Naruto already had his hair standing, on hearing the word "bijuu" and was cursing the incomplete bit of information.

By the time Kurenai returned from her own fight, she herself was quite exhausted. It was a good thing that she preferred to fight using genjutsus which ensured that there wasn't any direct confrontation. This ensured that against opponents who are not skilled in genjutsu, the worst she thing she would suffer from was mild chakra exhaustion. She took a soldier pill so that she can perform any immediate medical jutsu which may be required.

Kurenai would require a day or two to recuperate from mild chakra exhaustion once the effects of the pill disappear. After Naruto reported about all the battles and the current status of everyone including the message from the contact, even Kurenai was on the edge due to the content of the message, however incomplete it may be. Both of them moved to check the remaining two members of the team. Naruto sealed Hikaru's body and the leader's head in a scroll. He sent four clones to do the same with the remaining shinobis. Kurenai nodded and moved on to check on Shino's injuries.

Naruto went towards Hinata and checked her for injuries. Apart from the head injury and chakra exhaustion, she was not in a bad shape. The head injury was bleeding though. He didn't know any medical jutsu but knew enough first aid to take care of the injury. He took out a canteen of the water and washed the blood from Hinata's hair and head to clean the wound.

When the blood was washed and he was able to clean the injury, he parted her hair to apply a medicinal herb but stopped dead with a very cold feeling of dread in his stomach. He saw something which froze his blood cold. He was able to make out a huge part of a seal, right over the place where hinata's pituitary gland was supposed to be. The seal was complex but he could already make out a seal pattern for control. What was the true purpose of the seal evaded him but he was sure that it was not something good.

He swore to look at it later and inform Hinata as well but presently it was more important to take care of her and Shino's injuries. After bandaging her injury, he carried Hinata to Kurenai who has already healed the major injuries sustained by Shino. After doing the same to herself, Team 8 moved towards their inn for resting. Meanwhile, Naruto's clones burnt the dead bodies and gave the scroll with the heads to Naruto.

By the time Team 8 reached their room, his injuries were already healed and his chakra levels were almost half full. As soon as they reached the room, Naruto created a dozen kage bunshins and ordered half of them to form a perimeter around the room and the remaining to form a perimeter around the building. By the time he was through with the precautionary seals around the room which would warn him if another chakra source tries to enter the room, Kurenai was almost ready to lose consciousness. She told him to rest and indicated that they would discuss what to do next when the entire team is well enough.

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It was the morning of the second day after the fight when Team 8 was having a meeting inside their room. Naruto's kage bunshins have regularly combed through the port city in order to find if there were any other mist shinobis on their tail. He was happy to find that it was not the case. Kurenai was back to almost full health. Shino and Hinata would still take a couple of days to be perfectly fine. Once everyone was sitting together, Kurenai asked Shino and Hinata about their fights and was happy to find that both of them fought well against chunin level shinobis. She took proper time to ensure that Hinata was fine after her first kill. She explained that it was the correct thing to do.

"I am very pleased with all of your performance. Needless to say that this was definitely an A rank mission. Shino and Hinata, you two did really well against, if not low, then mid chunin level shinobis. Naruto, you on the other hand definitely fought a high chunin or even a low jounin level shinobi. I am really proud of you all. The leader of their group was Kaname Hizo. He is a high A ranked nin in the bingo book. Now that the mission is over, we have to make our way to Konoha as soon as possible. We have to apprise the Hokage - sama about this mission as Hikaru - san was a personal contact of Hokage - sama. Also the information provided by him, however lacking it may be, has to be passed to Hokage - sama immediately. I am sorry, Hinata and Shino, but we will not be able to wait for both of you to get back to your full strength." said Kurenai, regretfully. Before Hinata or Shino could say anything, Naruto spoke up.

"Pardon me, Kurenai - sensei. There is no need to rush to Konoha which would no doubt aggravate their injuries. If you may, I have a way to send the information to oji - san." After all this time, other members of Team 8 were aware of the close relationship between Sarutobi and Naruto. When Kurenai gave a nod with a curious expression on her face, as she was interested about his method of communication with the Hokage, Naruto nodded to her and bit his thumb. Before the others could even comprehend why Naruto would require blood, Naruto swiped his thumb across the seal on his left wrist and there was poof. Even when the usual clouds were still there, they heard Gamakichi speaking.

"**Yo bro, you must have a long life as I was just talking to pops about ya. He has been getting impatient about the fact that you still haven't summoned him. Take my advice and get it done with, the more you delay it, the more he is gonna make you suffer for it. Trust me, even though he is getting lazy in his old age, he can be downright sadist when he wants to be. Oye .... I thought you were on a long mission ....**" Till that time the clouds were gone and Gamakichi stopped in between his monologue on seeing the other members of Team 8 also present with Naruto. By the expressions on their face he understood that they were very surprised. As the awkward silence prevailed, Naruto decided to bring his teammates out of their stupor.

"Surprise!" said Naruto sheepishly which made everyone come out of shock. "Everyone, meet Gamakichi, my best friend. Gamakichi, meet Kurenai - sensei, Shino and Hinata - chan."

"**Yo! How is it going?**" greeted Kichi amicably.

"It is nice to meet you, Gamakichi. Naruto, just when I was thinking that you can not surprise me anymore, you have to drop the bomb that you have signed The Toad Summon contract. Anyways, this definitely solves our problem. I will just prepare the report. It will take few minutes." said Kurenai and started writing a mini report for the Hokage.

"What can I say, I am full of surprises. Shino, Hinata - chan, if you want to send any message then you can prepare it and Kichi will deliver them as well to oji - san." When both of them declined, Naruto spoke to Kichi. "Hey Kichi, tell Gamabunta - sama that he knows that I can't summon him till Jiraiya comes back to the village for a while. Anyways it was a simple C ranked mission but changed to an A ranked one due to involvement of other shinobis. As you can see we all are fine so no need to worry. I've summoned you as I need your help to deliver a message to the old man. You should wait there, just in case if we wants to send a message back to us. I will summon you back in say two hours."

"**No problem, bro. This will be the first time you have summoned me to be a summon, hehe. Why would I have a problem to help my summoner. However, it would have been a different thing altogether if it would have been Jiraiya in your place. He is a fucking lecher, man.**" said Kichi.

The entire Team 8 was amused with Kichi's antics. Kurenai was ready with the report by then. Naruto took the report from Kurenai and tied it together with the scrolls with the heads of the mist shinobis and body of Hikaru. He passed them to Kichi and Kichi poofed out of existence. While Kichi was gone Naruto tried to explain to the others, how he was able to sign the toad contract. Obviously, he cooked up a story that the old man asked Jiraiya to let him sign the contract as the Yondaime was his idol. He couldn't have told them the truth, as it was still too early to trust his team with his deepest secrets.

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Sarutobi was not having a good day. He has just received a new report from Jiraiya which had couple of troubling news. If that was not enough, Hatake Kakashi just sent Pakkun with a partial report about their confrontation with the demon brothers. He was aware of the fact that Tazuna didn't tell him everything, because he has already received an ANBU report regarding the activities of Gato in Nami no Kuni. It seems even the ANBU squad was not aware of the full extent of Gato's activities. He never expected for Team 7 to encounter nuke nins during their mission. He has already received a mission request from the Damiyo of Wave through the Fire Lord to take care of Gato. He was just in the process of deciding which team to send to Nami no Kuni. Most of the experienced teams were delivering a formal invitation to the other Kages for the Chunin exams. He didn't want to send an ANBU squad after the report from Jiraiya, of Orochimaru acting up again. As he was pondering about this, there was poof to the side of his table. He was happy to see that it was Gamakichi. That meant that it was a message from Naruto.

"**Yo! Hokage - sama. I have a report from Naruto's sensei and few other scrolls.**" said Kichi.

"Ah! Gamakichi, it is good to see you again. Lets see what you have got there." said Sarutobi. He took the report from Kichi and read it. If he was expecting something simple then he was mistaken. What he read, paled him. The small message from Hikaru just consolidated the information he received from Jiraiya about the group, Akatsuki. This wasn't his day, first Team 7 fought with the demon brothers and now Team 8 had to fight a group of mist shinobis lead by Kaname Hizo. He was thankful for the fact that Hikaru was there to fight him, else Team 8 would be dead. Kurenai was good but she was not on the level of Hizo.

This, however, did solve his problem of sending a team to Nami no Kuni. Team 8 would be able to reach Tazuna's place in a day. They will have to contact Kakashi. He will send the mission scroll to Kurenai with Gamakichi. From the report, he got to know that Kurenai and Naruto were almost ready for the mission. It would take another day or two for the remaining to be well enough. That is fine. Kakashi's mission was expected to take at the least two weeks.

"Gamakichi, if it is not too much of a trouble, can you give a scroll to Kurenai?" asked Sarutobi.

"**Hai Hokage - sama. Naruto already foresaw that you may have a message for them and asked me to wait. He will summon me again in a couple of hours.**" replied Kichi.

"Here, take this scroll and give it to Kurenai. Also, tell her that Team 8 will receive the pay for an A ranked mission and will also get the bounty for the mist shinobis."

"**No problem, Hokage - sama. Ja Ne!**" Kichi left with a poof.

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When Naruto summoned Kichi again, Kichi gave them the Hokage's message and the mission scroll to Kurenai. Kurenai read through it and frowned a little as she didn't want her team to go on another, possibly, a dangerous mission immediately. She didn't have any other option, though. She turned to speak to her team.

"Hokage - sama was really impressed with the team's performance. The performace also made him confident in your abilities to handle another mission. I would have liked for you to have a break between two dangerous mission but apparently, the mission location is in Nami no Kuni and we are best suited for it, due to time and other constraints. Rest for another couple of hours and then we will leave. It will take around half a day to reach our destination. Shino, Hinata, will the two of you be fine with travelling then?" asked Kurenai with concern.

"It would not be a problem, Kurenai - sensei. My shoulder is a little stiff but should be fine a day or two." replied Shino tonelessly.

"Don't worry, Kurenai - sensei. My head feels fine." replied Hinata with a confident tone. Five months with Team 8 have done a lot of good for Hinata's confidence. She was still a little shy but was able to open up with her team.

"Kurenai - sensei, I have something really important to tell you and Hinata. I am sorry I forgot about it but as Hinata mentioned about her head injury, I just remembered it." said Naruto with a dreadful voice. Kurenai gave him an inquisitive look.

"Naruto - kun, what is it?" asked Hinata a little fearfully as she has never heard Naruto speak like that.

"When I was cleaning Hinata's wound, I found a seal at the back of her head. I don't know its purpose but at that time I didn't have time to study the seal. Though, I recognized a seal patter for controlling something. Hinata - chan, I will make sure that I will find what is the purpose of that seal and will try to undo any of the harmful effects, if there are any as soon as we are back in Konoha." said Naruto with a look of pure determination and hugged her to reassure her that everything will be fine.

Hinata paled. Kurenai was also deeply disturbed as she was aware of the fact, that a single seal can do a lot of harm. If the cage bird seal was not enough, then the curse seal on Anko did paint a very vivid picture. Kurenai didn't know what to say so just gave him a nod.

"Don't worry, Hinata - chan. We will straighten out this mess. Remember, we are always there for you." said Kurenai affectionately.

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After travelling for half a day, Team 8 reached their destination just after sunset. They were appalled to see the state of the people there. When they were going for their previous mission, they never entered any other city and just took a ship from a port from Hi no Kuni. After asking couple of people about Tazuna's house, they found his home. Now, they were standing in front of his house. When the knock on the door was answered, Tsunami opened the door and was initially startled to find more shinobis at her doorstep. Though, she relaxed when she saw their hitai - ate and invited them in.

Team 8 entered the house and sat at the dining table. Just as they sat, Team 7 came downstairs followed by Kakashi on crutches. They were shocked to see Team 8 sitting there. Sasuke frowned, Sakura gave a confused look, Kakashi silently contemplated while Kiba spoke up brashly.

"What the hell are you people doing here? This is our mission." asked the Inuzuka heatedly.

Kurenai frowned and spoke harshly "Know your place, genin. Even though Kakashi is you sensei, I still outrank you. Keep your mouth shut and speak only when you are spoken to."

Before Kiba could dig an even deeper hole for himself, Kakashi pressed his shoulder tightly to send him the message to keep quiet. "Ma ma Kurenai - san, forgive him. My team is still a little unsettled from their earlier encounter. Can I have a word with you, in private?" asked Kakashi.

As Kakashi and Kurenai moved to an adjacent room, there was tense silence in the dining room. Team 8 looked at ragged condition of Sasuke and Kiba, made a guess that they were in a fight and it wasn't an easy one. Team 7 in turn studied Team 8 to find that only Hinata had a small bandage on the head, others were just fine.

Tsunami broke the silence by saying that why don't Team 8 freshen up while she prepares the dinner. Hinata immediately offered to help and Tsunami was thankful for it. Kiba couldn't control himself.

"What is your team doing here Shino, Uzumaki?" Kiba was a little familiar with the Aburame heir as they have met earlier at certain occasions.

"Why would be here, Kiba? We are on a mission, of course" replied Shino monotonously. Kiba wasn't pleased with the response and even Sasuke was irritated a bit.

Kakashi and Kurenai returned before an argument broke out. Kakashi informed to all who were present that Team 8 was there for a different but related mission and was also there if they needed any help. Team 7 was not pleased and the boys' ego was hurt. Tazuna and family were just happy that they had more shinobi at their house, which meant more protection for them. Kurenai explained the situation of Team 7's mission to Team 8 later in the night.

Things between the two teams didn't improve the next day. If the fact that Team 7 just escaped Zabuza yesterday to find out later that he was actually alive wasn't enough to rattle them, then Kakashi informed them in the night that Team 8 just finished an A ranked mission. Kakashi mentioned it to motivate his team to train harder, however, Sasuke was just pissed that a team of nobodies completed a higher mission without any significant injuries, Kiba was irritated that the people he thought were weak, were their to help them to complete the mission and Sakura was just unhappy that something was upsetting her precious Sasuke - kun.

When Kakashi told them to climb trees with chakra, Kiba complained that why was Team 8 not doing it. To add to the injury, before Kakashi could reply, Shino just walked down the tree Kakashi was hanging upside down from, apparently after finding a new specie of bugs.

Then Hinata walked out of the house and found Shino, she said "Shino - kun, I have been looking for you, Kurenai - sensei said that we have to leave in few minutes." Shino just nodded when they heard Naruto calling for them. Everyone turned towards the direction from which the voice was coming and found Naruto hanging upside down from a branch 10 feet high on a tree around 15 feet away from them with his hands crossed in front of his chest.

"Oye Shino, Hinata, sensei is waiting." called out Naruto and both of them were beside him in a moment. Then all three of them took off leaving a very stunned and irritated Team 7 and an impressed Kakashi.

"Apparently, they don't need it, wouldn't you agree?" asked Kakashi mockingly.

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Kurenai explained them that their mission was to find Gato's base and infiltrate it to find its weaknesses and where the safe was. Then they have to eliminate him and confiscate his riches. For three days they have been scouting the area and collecting the information and they finally found his base. Hinata used byakugan to find the layout of the place. Shino sent a swarm of his kikkai bugs to collect more information. They would report back to Shino in the night with all the information. When Team 8 reached Tazuna's house, it was time for dinner.

When the dinner was going on, Inari lost it at Kiba's antics. He started badmouthing everyone and telling them their efforts were futile. He also mentioned that he was sick of their attitude while they were all oblivious to what suffering is. Kiba was enraged but didn't know what to say. Sasuke was seething as he has suffered far more than the boy but it would not go with his image if he just started raging at the boy.

Naruto just stood up and said coldly "As if you know what true suffering is? You don't even know a fraction of it." He then turned to Kurenai and spoke "Sensei, I am going out to train and will return later." Kurenai nodded as she understood that Naruto had some steam to blow off.

Naruto trained late into the early hours of the morning. By the time he was through, he was utterly exhausted and just slept bare chested on the ground. Next he knew was that someone was shaking him gently. He opened his eyes and was mesmerized with the first thing his eyes landed on and spoke breathlessly.

"Tenshi - chan"

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A/N: Sorry folks, this chapter took especially long as i was stuck with how to write the fight sequence. I hope it is enjoyable. On a happier note, Haku - chan is here. Will await your reviews ... chao!


	6. Flight of Icarus

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto .... blah blah blah !

A/N : Hey folks. Thankx to everyone who have reviewed. I am answering few of the issues mentioned in the comments. Do read through them.

**lpride21:** Please tell me, you didn't just write that. Actually don't. As that was your last review then I will also have my last say in the matter. Naruto is much better than most genin because of his huge chakra capacity and unrelenting use of Kage Bunshins which I am sure Kakashi had nothing to do with. Secondly, I meant that morally and ideally Kakashi was a failure as a sensei. According to you his impression on others was of a good sensei due to Naruto's accomplishments even though he didn't help him at all. If his measure as a competent sensei is the perception of other jounins, well in that case, you sure are correct. Enough said.

**Stormraven: **I am sorry to say that I don't have the fic planned out. I am just going with the flow. I do have two specific new ideas for seals which Naruto will be using in the future. Initially I thought that I will just float the idea on this site and may be someone would be interested in writing a fic with it. I didn't think that I might be able to write a decent fic :D On a serious note, I wouldn't mind if someone wish to continue this one as I am already finding less and less time to write the fic.

**Velshard:** Well, it is quite embarrassing to admit that the same thought was going through my mind when I was writing this chapter. Wasn't able to help it though, as nothing more interesting came to mind. I didn't want to rush to the point where Haku enters the scene. I specifically added the part of Anko's seal and half information of Madara just to give a couple of more interesting bits. But hey, as long as people like it, I am happy.

**Alucard180:** I wanted to cover a lot of ground in the previous chapter and also felt it was necessary to give Team 8 a serious mission. If you take all of this into consideration, I didn't wish to add to much about how Team 8 became close as it might have seemed kind of stagnating. About the part where the interaction with Team 7 felt rushed, well it was. Though, the fic deals with things which are pertinent to Naruto. As Naruto never interacted with any of the members of Team 7 beforehand, there was no point to build a background as there wasn't one to be built. Shino was always aloof during the academy and Hinata was seen as weird. Neither of them cared about Team 7.

**syuchang:** Well, the idea of Naruto not being with Sakura and Sasuke has been written by a lot of authors with a whole lot of amazing plots. You should browse a little more on this site and you will find many more. One of my favourites is Team 8 by STarkan or someone, I guess. It is fucking brilliant. Do read it, if you haven't.

**Bleedndreamz:** I don't think that people think a lot during fights as most of them are fought on instincts due to lack of time and adrenaline. The thinking part is done in the fights of high caliber, like Sandaime's and Orochimaru's fight or Kakashi's fight with Hidan and Kakazu or when Shikamaru with Asuma was facing an S - rank foe. Good shinobi fights shouldn't be flamboyant but only precise. Point taken though and will try to detail out the fights.

**Bonar:** You have made quite a few good points. Hmmm .... I didn't want to put Naruto with Shika for two reasons. Firstly, I don't think I will do justice to the battle tactics of a genius, if I ever think of explaining the fights of Naruto's teammates. Also, with a genius like Shika he automatically becomes the leader while I wanted Naruto to be the assertive one. Please don't sell Naruto's skills short. He didn't use any of the toads in the battle which considerably jumbles up the odds and is definitely considered as quite a skill. He also didn't use the Rasengan, even though only a single jutsu but a strong and respected one. Nevertheless I am neither supporting nor refuting the fact that he is unable to defeat strong foes.  
I haven't read any fic in which Hinata has a seal, though I only read the ones which really intrigue me. I may have missed them.  
This one I want to field specifically. Jiraiya is a seal expert, no doubt about it. But, He doesn't have any reason to study Anko's curse seal. He is also always on the move and would have to be in the village to study it. Anko never used it and thus it wasn't in the forefront of his mind. On the other hand, Naruto doesn't like the fact that Anko suffers because of it and he is attached to her. He knows that her foremost wish is to get rid of it. My perception of the art of seals is that they are like a programming language. If you are aware of the building blocks then you experiment with them and observe what is the reaction of stimulus like blood or chakra or hand seals with a certain pattern. Naruto also has the personal notes of the Yondaime to help him. He is quite proficient with fuuin jutsu because he has studied and experimented with them quite rigorously. I never wrote that Hinata's seal is too complex for him, rather he says that its purpose evaded him at that time as he didn't have time to study it. Also he didn't have the time to analyse the entire seal.  
I was dreading that someone would bring up the issue of Anko not helping him with genjutsu but also wanted to justify it. You had to bring it up. Look Anko is not an expert in the field but she did try to help him with it but ran out of patience when the standard procedure was not helping him. She also thought that improving his other skills would be far more beneficial than she banging her head to find out ideas to counter a problem of which she just had enough understanding to get out of sticky situations. So, she just told him to suck it up and hurt himself to get out of it.

**FF89atbC:** The specifics of the seal will be mentioned later :P No, its not the cage bird seal.

**some reader_21:** Tenshi is the Japanese word for an angel. About the fight, Naruto's opponent severely underestimated him and kind of lost his cool when Naruto fought him at par. Even Kakashi who has been an ANBU captain got caught off guard by Zabuza the first time he fought him as he was a little complacent, though the second time when he became serious, he kicked his ass. Naruto's fight was short and lacked any significant attack from the mist shinobi as Naruto surprised him.

Having said all that, for all the readers who are eagerly waiting for Haku, this chapter is mostly interaction between Haku and Naruto. I hope it was decent enough. Let me clear though, they won't fall in love at the first sight and start fucking like rabbits. Also, I read about the legend of Icarus and at some sites it is said that he wanted to soar to the heaven while wiki says that he by mistake soared closer to the sun. I always thought since my yesteryear that Icarus wanted to touch the sun the most and it was the only thing he could never have. In spite of that he flew towards it and as they say, his fate was crash and burn, metaphorically.

Someone also mentioned that I should get a beta, so anyone interested? I was also thinking of changing the rating to T. Any suggestions?

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**Chapter 6: Flight of Icarus**

I am tired. Dead tired. My back is hurting like a bitch. Every muscle in my body is screaming for putting them under such abuse. I am breathing heavily. My chakra levels are running low, just below half. I guess this is acceptable considering the fight I've had. I think I can get guilty pleasure in the fact that even my opponent isn't even fairing any better. Though, she is far more composed than I am. The fact that she is wearing a mask does help her out in that respect.

There is definitely something familiar about her, but for the life of me, I just can't put my finger on it. I can't find time to ponder more over it. She didn't underestimate me, rather she seems to be overcautious, as if she has an idea about my true skills. This can't be possible as no one, okay, no human is aware of the extent of my skills. Rest assured that I won't be advertising them either.

We moved in sync. Both of us finding aur second wind. She moved with a grace that is not generally found in people out of royalty and yet she is a very fierce kunoichi. If nothing, I can respect that. After fighting her for the past fifteen minutes or so, I've observed some things. As she prefers senbon needles over kunais, her precision is amazing and so is her observation skills. Her hits are aimed for internal injuries and no movement is wasted. At the calibre at which we are fighting, the one who makes the first mistake is going to pay for it, heavily.

We again became entranced in our fierce dance. Making my decision, I deliberately over-extend my punch which flew right past her face, kissing the cold mask on it. She didn't disappoint me and immediately took the opportunity to deliver damage to my kidney. Unfortunately for her, I was prepared for that. With the sub-par control I've on my chakra, I tried to lessen the blow. It wasn't very effective but I braced myself for the pain. As the blow found its target without fail, I was hard pressed to not to scream. Though, I'm sure that the grunt was like music to her ears. Someone very wisely stated, no pain no gain.

This is when I put my plan into action. My other hand snapped and caught her hand before she could retract it. I gave it a tug and she lost her balance, momentarily. I seized the opportunity and delivered a sharp knee to her lower back. She showed her skills by trying to arch her back away from the kick to dampen the force, even then she hissed in pain. I pivoted on my other ankle, spun and delivered, literally, a shattering elbow to her mask covered face. This made her scream and stagger backwards. Immediately I had a kunai in hand and was moving to finish her off and then, it happened.

The mask on her face crumbled as if in a slow motion, taunting and tormenting me, at the same moment. Even before the lower half of the mask could touch the ground, I was filled with dread. How can I forget those lips. I was stuck in mid stride like my body has turned to stone, like I have been graced with Medusa's presence. Even she didn't make any threatening move, apart from righting herself. As her entire face came into view, I was filled with profound sorrow which if I was honest to myself was mirrored in her beautiful eyes. All that came out of my mouth was one word, "Tenshi ..." Ironically enough, that was the first thing I said to her when we met for the first time. The feeling behind it, however, was completely different. When earlier there was reverence, now there was only pain of betrayal. I thought to myself, 'Why does everything in my life has to go down the gutter?'

Flashback :: Few days back

Dreams. Never had a lot of them. When I was little, I used to dream that someone would come to take me away from my lonely existence. In a sense that was fulfilled when Kichi and I became friends. It wasn't much but the void was filled by a little. From early on life taught me not to dream. I made my peace with it. However, I wasn't prepared for the nightmares. After the beating I received almost a decade back, I regularly had nightmares. For the first few weeks, I just wished that an angel would come and end my misery. What did you expect, I was five.

Now, after so many years I was really surprised to see one. My vision was hazy. It seemed that I was in a trance. However, the ethereal beauty of the angel was breathtaking. Without even realizing what I was saying, I murmured "Tenshi-chan". The serenity of the moment was broken when it felt as if my body was being shaken and a melodic voice drifted towards me, saying, "You shouldn't sleep outside or you will catch cold." My eyes suddenly snapped open when I realized how vulnerable I was. I was so far gone that I didn't even realize that someone was in my personal space, let alone, that the same person was shaking me.

I focused on the person sitting beside me. Calling her an angel was not an overstatement. She was beautiful. She had long smooth black hair, kind brown eyes and a delicate body. When the wind blew and a strand of hair blew in her face, the mere action of moving it behind her ear was an epitome of grace. I was spellbound, there is no other way to say it. I have seen a lot of beautiful women, somehow it seems that they can't even hold a candle in front of her. Is this what they say, 'love at first sight'? The graceful woman in front of me was stunning with a warm smile, slightly pink cheeks, creamy white smooth skin but above all she gave off a feeling which brought peace to my heart. Her eyes held such sadness, as if she had seen a lot in her life. I chose to ignore it as I can't even think of her and sadness in the same thought. Though, I couldn't deny the fact that there was something in her eyes which was like looking at my reflection.

Alas, I need to come back to reality. I don't have a lot of experience with love but I hardly believe this is love. I don't even know her. There is no point in thinking so much about it. For all I know, I will never meet her again.I sat up and said "I don't get sick very easily, though, thank you for caring."

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I was collecting the herbs for Zabuza-sama, when I saw a body lying at the base of a tree. I was worried, why would someone be sleeping in the open in this weather. I moved closer to ensure that the person was fine. If it is something not very serious, I can always try and heal her or him. When I reached the tree, I found that it was a boy with beautiful golden hair, well toned body and hardly any baby fat on the face. He was sleeping peacefully. What caught my attention were the six scars on his face. For a moment I thought that he was a shinobi and was disheartened, as the only shinobi around this area were most probably from Konoha. In that case I may have to kill him to protect Zabuza-sama. However, I realized that he was not one of the three genins who were accompanying the Sharingan - Kakashi.

I placed my hand on his forehead to see if he has caught a cold, I was surprised to find his body warm. I tried waking him up by shaking his shoulder but was caught off guard when he called me an angel. Since the day I lost my ka-chan, first I was all alone on the streets and all I got were disgusted looks. When Zabuza-sama took me in, it was either his indifferent or curious gaze or a look of fear on my opponent's face. Long ago, ka-chan used to say that I was a cute princess. Since "that" day I've never bothered about it anymore. I never expected a stranger to call me that. I cannot deny the fact that he was handsome and if I would be true to myself, I blushed. I don't blush. I am a kunoichi and a tool to Zabuza-sama. I was able to control the blush, almost, when I found him staring at me after he woke up completely. It was unnerving to be stared at but I smiled at him.

When I heard his reply, his voice was not what I expected it to be. It had a mature sound to it and somehow it felt as if he wasn't very happy. Before I could comment any further on it, the boy sat up and turned to look for his shirt. I gasped when I saw a mesmerizing tattoo of a boy with wings which were melting(??) on his back. It was compounded by two small but significant and identical ones on his biceps. On further inspection, this particular tattoo had a straight sword with two rose vines entwined around it. This really intrigued me but before I could look more, he already had a t-shirt on. He turned towards me and held my gaze. I was surprised as most of the boys I've met inadvertently look towards my bosom. After an uncomfortable silence, he finally spoke.

"Hi, Uzumaki Naruto", he offered a handshake as he intoduced himself. I blushed in emabarassment that I forgot to introduce myself.

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As I turned towards her, my eyes were caught in staring at her beautiful eyes. I came back to my senses and offered my name. She blushed, I guess, in embarrassment.

"Hi, my name is Haku. It is a pleasure to meet you." she said.

I raised an eyebrow at lack of surname. She didn't relent and I let it pass.

"So Haku-san, What are you doing up so early in the morning?"

"I am collecting medicinal herbs. They are most fresh at dawn."

"Ah! Are you interested in healing? Shouldn't you have an escort as I've heard that due to some guy, Gato, this place isn't very safe now-a-days?"

"Hai, I like to make medicines. You are correct Naruto-kun, but his thugs never bother anyone so early in the morning."

"Neverthless, I will accompany you, just to make sure."

"Arigato, Naruto-kun."

I started helping her in collecting the herbs by following her directions, of course. We made small talk. I told her, that I was travelling alone and yesterday was just too tired to find a place to stay. There was no point in telling her that I was a shinobi and was happy that last night I kept my hitai-ate inside my jacket. She told me that she lives alone as her parents are dead. We understood each other much better when I told her the same. After some time, she asked something which I was not expecting.

"If you don't mind, Naruto-kun. Can you tell me about the tattoos that you have on your back and your arms?"

I didn't know what to tell her. I've never talked about them. Only Anko knows about them and then I just laughed them off saying that I just liked them. She didn't press. Haku on the other hand was a stranger. I thought it may just feel good to discuss about them.

"The one on my arms, tou-san used to like it. He said that it symbolizes everything in life and was like a ying-yang. A sword means war, destruction, and death. The rose represents life, peace, tranquility, and of course, beauty and grace. The rose stops the sword from harming while the sword protects the rose from withering away, unnaturally. No matter how much we may hate war, it is inevitable.

"The one on my back is more personal. It symbolizes my life. It is based on a mythological character, Icarus. His father made wings of wax for him, so that they could escape from a prison but cautioned him to not fly too high. Icarus loved his new found freedom and wanted to soar high to the sun and heaven. As he tried to reach for them, the sun melted his wings and he drowned in the ocean. In my life, I wish for a lot of things but it seems like a cruel fate that these things which are easily in reach of other people, is just too far for me. Whenever something is close, it just slips through my fingers like sand."

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Haku was stunned with the emotion with which Naruto described the feelings behind the tattoos. She was touched as she could relate to him to a great extent. She didn't like to fight but still did it for Zabuza-sama as she was his tool. Before she could even realize, she started speaking in a low voice, spilling her heart.

"When I was little, our family was very happy. Though, it didn't stay that way for long. One day I came home after playing outside. When I went into the kitchen, I was horrified to see ka-chan lying on the floor with blood pooling around her. I couldn't even comprehend what was happening as I saw life drifting away from her eyes. Then I saw tou-san standing there with a knife in his hands and a crazy look in his eyes. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. Then he lunged towards me and I ..." then she realized that she can't tell him the truth.

"I couldn't react and would have died had ka-chan not killed tou-san. As she bled to death, she only said that she loved me and was very sorry for leaving me alone. I have been so lonely since then. My guardian found me on the streets and took care of me. He is a bit cold but he saved me from loneliness and I will do anything for him."

I don't know why I told him almost everything. May be it was because he was the first person with whom I could just talk. Maybe I was just lonely and needed a friend. I was surprised when he gave me an awkward side hug. I smiled at his gesture of providing comfort.

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Now I understood what I saw in those eyes, which was so familiar. It was longing for a friend who understands you. I surprised myself when I tried to comfort her. She showed her gratitude by a heart melting smile. We found something very common in each other.

"Ka-chan died while giving birth to me. Our village was attacked few days later, and tou-san died fighting to save the village. I was sent to an orphanage. My guardian, oji-san, took care of me since I was 4. He has always been a very busy man and even though he cared a lot for me, our interaction was very limited. It is not easy making friends when you are an orphan which is not liked very much by the general populace. Apparently, tou-san made a lot of enemies with the influential lot. I was like a pariah. Since then, I've made very few, but good friends and I will even give my life for them."

"You'll grow very strong, Naruto-kun. When one has something precious, she or he will gain strength to protect them." said Haku.

As the hour grew late, I dreaded the fact that I may not see her ever again. I have never been in this kind of situation. Kichi and I became friends when we were kids. It took a very long time to get close to Anko-chan and I've known that she will be always there. Oji-san is always there. I care about Kurenai-sensei, Hinata and Shino and we will be together for a long time.

I don't know what to do with Haku. In my indecision, I didn't even realize that we came in front of an inn. She had already told me that she travels a lot with her guardian. I could not have told her to meet me if she ever comes to Konoha. Well, life sucks. We stood there for a long time, both of us not knowing what to say.

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As the silence grew long, my heart broke piece by piece. I am sure that I will never be able to meet him again as I am needed by Zabuza-sama. I purposefully led him to an inn so that he will not find me even if he tried. There was no point. I steeled my heart and decided to go away before it gets even tougher to leave his presence. As I was about to leave, I impulsively gave him a brief hug and a chaste kiss on his cheek.

I walked away after saying, "Sayonara, Naruto-kun". I was even more surprised to hear his quiet reply.

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As I saw her leaving, I couldn't help but reply, "Sayonara, Haku-chan."

I was not in a good mood since that meeting. My team wisely gave me space as they knew that I'll tell him if it is something serious. For the past few days, we have been scouting the area in and around the village to gather as much information about Gato as possible. We've found his hideout and we are set to attack it the next morning. Interaction with the other team is kept to bare minimum. I think that was a good thing, as that Uchiha has some serious issues.

Here we are standing in front of Tazuna's house, with all our gear. Kurenai-sensei has already intimated our plan of action to Hatake. As Kurenai-sensei gave the signal to move out, we were off. Within 15 minutes, we reached out destination. Without wasting any time, Hinata activated her byakugan. There was a slight surprise on her face. We were immediately on our guard as if something was amiss. She quietly told that there were very few people inside and we should scout the entire perimeter once so that she can confirm further ado, we jogged around the building and reached the starting point.

"Kurenai-sensei, there are only around 50 thugs inside, in comparison to the 300 we observed earlier. As far as I can make out, Gato is also not present."

"It may be possible, that Gato took his men to the bridge or for some other purpose." said Kurenai.

While Kurenai-sensei mused about it, I gained memories of one of the bunshins I left at Tazuna's house as a precaution.

"Kurenai-sensei, once Team 7 left for the bridge with Tazuna, two thugs attacked his home in order to capture his daughter for leverage. It seems that Gato and his thugs will be attacking Team 7 as well. Anyways my bunshins took care of those two and told Tsunami-san and her son to hide somewhere. A kage-bunshin is accompanying them, just in case."

"Hmm ... our mission is to assassinate Gato and take away his riches. This is a very good opportunity to accomplish the second part, with only a sixth of the thugs present. However, it may so happen that Kakashi and his team may not be able to fight the thugs after facing Zabuza and his accomplice. Naruto, I think it would be prudent that you go to the bridge to lend some help if they are in a bind. Once you reach there, use Kichi or a bunshin to send us the status. We will catch up once we are done here. If possible, we can try to flank Gato and his thugs from his blind side." said Kurenai.

"As you wish, Kurenai-sensei. I will send information with my fastest summon, Kichi is not that quick and he cannot summon himself at your position as he does with Hokage-sama. Before you ask, Gamabunta-sama presented me with two reverse-summoning seals so that Kichi can summon himself to this plane if he wants, on my request. One of which is present with Hokage-sama and the other is present on my person. I will go now. Be safe, Kurenai-sensei, Hinata-chan, Shino. See you in a bit."

"You too Naruto." said Kurenai-sensei and the others nodded.

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As I reached the bridge, I didn't come across Gato so they must have taken the route through the sea. However, I was very surprised to find the situation on the bridge. Entire bridge was under a thick mist. I could sense two large chakra source within it. That meant that Hatake and Zabuza must be fighting there. What surprised me even more was that there was a dome of ice on the ground just adjacent to where the bridge was attached to the land. When I concentrated on the dome of ice, I found that Uchiha and Inuzuka were like pincushions inside it. Every mirror had someones reflection, most probably Zabuza's accomplice. Every few second the two boys' bodies were riddled with more needles. I found Haruno and Tazuna around 50 metres from the dome behind some construction materials.

First things first, I quickly sent off the status to Kurenai-sensei through Gamakon. Now, I started analyzing the situation. Zabuza's accomplice definitely had a strange jutsu. Going inside the dome would be foolish as he held advantage over there. However, I can't leave those two morons there, or they will be dead soon. I wonder why he didn't finish them straight away. He seems to be toying with them. I need to distract the guy so that I could rescue the other two. I don't know anything about that jutsu so I can't allow him to keep it up.

I made few **Kage Bunshins** and sent them as distraction. My bunshins surrounded the dome. One of them shouted for Uchiha gaining the attention of everyone, except Hatake and Zabuza. At that moment, all of the bunshins' hands blurred into forming the seals and together they shouted "**Katon - Gokakyuu no jutsu**".

While everyone was distracted, I used **Doton - Shinju Zanshu no jutsu** to travel underground and emerged inside the dome right behind the two boys. I didn't waste anytime and formed twenty **Kage Bunshins**. I grabbed both of the boys and was gone with **Doton - Shinju Zanshu no jutsu**. I re-emerged next to Haruno and dumped her teammates next to her while she screamed on seeing the state of the Uchiha.

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I was surprised to see Naruto-kun standing outside my dome of ice. Depression gripped my heart thinking that Naruto-kun was after all a Konoha shinobi. I have to ensure that he doesn't sees my face. I knew he was strong earlier but if he is a shinobi then I have to be very cautious. As I came to my senses, I realized that there were more identical copies of him and they were making hand seals. 'His bunshins can do jutsus?'

Before I could react, there was balls of fire coming from all directions. Even though, I knew that my ice won't melt but I could feel the massive chakra in the jutsus. As the fire died down, I was surprised even more when all of them vanished with a poof and the original was nowhere to be found. I realized my mistake immediately turned my attention inside the dome. I caught a glimpse of Naruto and the two genins disappearing into the ground and more bunshins left behind. I know that bunshins are dispelled with one hit and prepared to decimate the lot of them when they started glowing a bit.

I was just in time to react as I created another slab of ice mirror a few metres away from the dome. I was flabbergasted when the clones started exploding. One or two of them wouldn't have made any difference but with twenty or so exploded inside a compact dome, it was a recipe for a disaster. The resulting explosion was so forceful that all the mirrors were shattered. Such power.

I didn't get time to ponder more about this as a glowing ball of chakra was heading towards the mirror I was residing in. I immediately jumped out of it to see it being shattered completely. Multiple explosions of huge magnitude was one thing but seeing my mirror being smashed so easily was very unnerving. Even Zabuza-sama was unable to break it this easily. As I regained my composure, I came face to face with Naruto-kun and knew that I'm going to be very sore after this fight regardless of who the victor is. I have to finish this quickly.

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When the mirrors were completely unaffected by my bunshins' katon jutsu, I had to reassess my enemy. This shinobi definitely had a kekkei genkai. When the **Bunshin-Daibakuha no jutsu** worked, I came to a conclusion that only really strong physical attacks will be able to affect the damn mirrors.

After watching that the shinobi used another mirror to escape the explosion, I realized that I'll have to use Rasengan. Looking around I surmised that Tazuna was hiding behind a crate, Haruno was busy fussing over the Uchiha, the two boys were out cold and Kakashi was no where to observe my battle. Thus, it was safe to use it.

I immediately created a Rasengan and charged the mirror in which the shinobi was hiding. He avoided the attack and righted himself before I could decimate the mirror. Once I got rid of the mirror, I came face to face with my opponent. Damn, was I surprised?

It was a kunoichi and something about her was very familiar. I can't waste time to analyze this as I have to finish my fight as soon as possible so that I have time to be ready for Gato and his thugs. After fighting such strong opponents, even Hatake and myself will be shit tired to face the thugs and there is always strength in numbers, only this time it can be our downfall. There is no telling when Kurenai-sensei will be coming.

As we rushed towards each other to engage in a taijutsu fight, I was assessing my opponent. After an intense exchange of blows, she flicked a senbon needle in her right hand and tried to stab me and I countered it with a kunai of my own. With a subtle shift in her stance I stumbled forward a little and quick like lightening she jabbed me in the other shoulder. I was impressed as she showed immense experience of fighting with opponents of greater physical strength to use it against them.

I was even further impressed when my shoulder which she hit, was paralysed just momentarily. Immediately, she started doing one handed seals and stomped her foot on the ground. 'What the fuck!! One-handed seals?' I saw water rising in the air and turning into senbon needles. Just as I was preparing to jump to avoid them, she kicked one of my knee joints and my leg buckled. 'Fuck!' She hit another pressure point. She immediately jumped away and the needles rushed towards me. I can't use kawarami as the needle were rushing from every direction except where she went. Going in that direction would be suicide. By then I could move my hand again and immediately started doing hand seals. As the needles were about to pierce me, I sank into the ground and consecutively tried to pull her down after that but she deftly, avoided it. 'Damn! she is good.'

Okay, close range is dangerous. Can't give her time to do that dome jutsu but it seems that it taxes on her chakra reserves. She is almost equally matched in speed, thus any mid-range or long range attack will be avoided by, if nothing, then her ice mirrors. My Katon and Suiton jutsus will be weak against her Suiton or Hyouton jutsus. Lets try something else then.

I created 4 **Kage Bunshins** with me at the centre. All five of us rushed towards her. The one in front of me, went for a sliding tackle while two headed to either side of her and the last remained behind me. As she was about to hit the one coming towards her, I chucked a shuriken towards her. This didn't faze her, as expected. However, what followed next, did. Within a split second I completed the seals for **Kage Shuriken no jutsu** and that lone shuriken multiplied into many. She couldn't duck or she would have been hit by my bunshin, so she did only thing she could, she jumped into the air.

I followed her by jumping above her and bringing down an axe kick to her back. At last moment she twisted herself in mid air to block the kick and pushed me off with a kick of her own to my abdomen. I created another bunshin mid air to right myself and throw me higher in the air. Meanwhile, as she landed on the ground, she had to immediately jump again as my bunshins again did **Katon-Gokakyuu no jutsu** while surrounding her. This is what was the plan and before she could react, this time my kick connected with her back and sent her flying into the dying inferno. To my utter shock, as her body hit the ground, it shattered into pieces of ice. 'Shit! That was a **Hyouton Bunshin**.'

The table was turned so suddenly that I was completely unprepared for the dragon made of water that crashed into my body and sent it flying into the ground below.

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As I landed on the ground once avoiding the kick from Naruto-kun, my arms were stinging from the force behind his kick. Immediately I saw that his bunshins were again sending those damn balls of fire from all side. I knew that their view will be blocked by their own jutsu and that real Naruto will not have a clear view of me as last I saw he was righting himself in the air with the help of another bunshin.

That long second was all I required to gain the upper hand in the battle. I immediately created a **Hyouton Bunshin** and it jumped into the air. Without wasting even a fraction of a second I created two ice mirrors, one right above me and one about 5 metres above Naruto-kun. Before he could realize what happened I was above him and the first mirror vanished.

I waited for just enough time to let him watch my bunshin shatter when I hit him with a **Suiton-Suiryudan no jutsu** at point blank range. I was sure that at this range, there was no chance that he will be in any condition to fight again. I took a sigh of relief as I watched Naruto-kun crash into the ground with a heavily damaged back. There was a crater where his body landed and he was definitely down for the count.

I was completely exhausted. Doing so many high level jutsus left me with only a quarter of my reserves. I was just turning to go and see if Zabuza-sama needed any help when something caught my eyes and shocked me to the core. Naruto-kun's back was healing at a rapid rate and he was already on his hands and knees. 'How is that even possible?'

End of Flashback

"Why Haku?" I asked.

"In Kirigakure, Mizukage ordered a genocide of all the clans with a kekkei genkai and the general populace also hated us as they thought of us as the harbinger of suffering, death and war. Ka-chan's kekkei genkai was never awakened. I accidentally awakened mine when I was around 5 and tou-san found out. It was I who killed tou-san by mistake when he attacked me after killing ka-chan. I lived on the streets till Zabuza-sama found me. He gave me a purpose to live. He is my most precious person and I am whatever he wants me to be which is his tool."

"Even if that forces you to do things you don't like?"

"We're shinobis, Naruto-kun. We're just weapons for our villages, clients, ambitions, greed, or simply our heart. Of all of them, whoever or whichever we give power over us, it is for them to use us. You gave that power to your Kage. You will do anything he tells you to or it is treason. I do whatever Zabuza-sama tells me to."

"We are not just weapons, Haku. We follow orders, that is true but we follow our own code. We are our own person. I will never do something which I believe is wrong."

"Even if, one of your precious person asks you, Naruto-kun? Even if it is for their dream?"

"THAT does not justify doing something wrong."

"Nothing is wrong in our profession. A shinobi anything and everything, lie, deceit, act, anything to complete their objective. That is what a shinobi is, Naruto-kun"

"What if instead of those two inside your dome, it would have been my teammates. What would have you done then, considering the fact that hurting them would indirectly hurt me?" I asked changing the subject, knowing that there was some truth in her words and I would cross the bridge of whether I follow the orders or not when the situation presents itself. I was grasping at straws, feeling completely helpless.

"I would have done exactly the same thing. I don't regret what I've done for Zabuza-sama. I can't fail Zabuza-sama. All of this is necessary for completing his dream."

"All of this is necessary ... " I say with disbelief.

Flashback :: few days ago

After that meeting with Haku, I didn't feel like spending time with anyone. So I spent my spare time training or meditating near the lake. Today I decided to look around the village. What I saw in the village was appalling at best and disgusting to the core at worst. May be the scene affected me even worse because of my own experiences of my early life. Everywhere I went, the situation was the same.

At food stalls, everything was spoilt and over-priced. I know how disheartening that situation can be. There were people sleeping on the roadside. Everyone looked starved. Each eye looked into was dull. The village was dying. There was no hope.

Then I reached a scene, which made my blood boil. I saw a cute little girl looking through trash cans to find food. What little she found was too foul to eat, but she still kept it. She then took all the food she was able to scavenge and went into a nearby alley. I followed her to find two small boys huddling in a corner. When they looked at her their eyes brightened. One of them said happily, "Onee-chan found food."

Then they caught sight of me and immediately all happiness vanished. They cringed with fear and lost hope. The girl turned around and gasped. She immediately hid the food behind her back and started moving towards the boys. With tears in her eyes she said, "Ne aniki, please don't take our food. Hiro-kun and Jinta-kun haven't had anything for two days. You can have my share but please leave some for them." She was pleading as her life depended on it.

I was so fucking enraged. To look at children so young facing the cruelties of the world, I don't know how I was restraining myself from releasing KI. I beckoned the girl with my hand. She came forward very apprehensively. I smiled kindly at her and asked, "Ne, what is your name? Mine is Naruto."

"Me is Suki." she answered shyly.

"Suki-chan, no need to be afraid. I won't take anything from you nor i will hurt you. But, you don't have to eat that spoiled food either. I will give you fresh food. Will you like that, Suki-chan?"

The look of surprise on her face was comical but there was hint of concern as well. Obviously, she must be suspicious as to why a stranger would give her food. Also, it seemed that she was worried about the two boys as she looked back at them. I beckoned them as well.

"Ne, why don't we all go somewhere clean and I will give you proper food. Okay, I will show you a trick as well. **Kage Bunshin no jutsu!**" I said after making the necessary seal. They were totally surprised, after all they don't shinobis out here. My two bunshins piggy-backed the two boys while I did the same with Suki. For entertainment, I took off to the roofs and ran at moderately high speeds. Their squeals of delight was like music to my soul. Within minutes we reached the lake where I used to go everyday. My bunshins and I washed their hands and faces, then dispelled the bunshins. Then I took out a storage scroll and unsealed spare food which I always keep with myself. As soon as they saw the food, they were delighted but looked at me to see if they can have it. I gestured for them to have it.

"Have as much as you want and don't hesitate to ask for more."

"Ne aniki, how you make two more you? How you make food out of that paper?" asked Suki excitedly while munching on rice and fish.

"Suki-chan, I'm a shinobi. We use energy called chakra from inside us to do these things. I already had prepared the food, I just stored it in that scroll.", they all nodded after hearing this but didn't pay much heed to it as food was more important. Once their appetite was sated, I asked them where do they stay and their answer was simple, wherever they can.

Making my decision, I created sufficient Kage bunshins to build a cabin for them in a place which is not too easy to find but is also safe from wild animals. I told them to have proper bath while I sent a bunshin to buy some second hand clothes for the kids. I entertained them for the day and prepared dinner for them by catching fish from the lake. The cabin was sufficiently ready for them to stay. I took them there and told them to remember the way. I took out another scroll and unsealed all the extra futons and blankets I had.

"Suki-chan, Hiro-kun and Jinta-kun, you all can stay here from now on till there is some other better arrangement available. Also, I will come daily with food so that you don't have to worry for it. If you know any other children who need shelter and food, you can bring them here. I will take care of you all till I'm here. Okay?"

They all started crying and hugged me. I generally don't like interacting with people but can't help it when it comes to children. I can't see them suffering cause I know how bad it is. As I was leaving the three kids, I swore to myself that first I will get rid of Gato and before returning to Konoha will definitely do something permanent for them. That day onwards, everyday either I or my bunshin went to their cottage for all the three meals. By the end of it, there were already 10 of them.

End of Flashback

Remembering the state of those kids, brought righteous fury in my heart. Feelings of desperation, disgust and above all betrayal from someone I really liked, I unconsciously fueled my anger and hate. Even though I could never hate Haku but the situation, so she was the outlet of it. For the first time in my life I was blinded with fury and started feeling really hot as if my blood was on fire.

"So, all of this is necessary. Making a country so poor that everyone is starving, that more than half the population is surving like rats. Is it justified to make children not even five year old, looking for food in trash cans. Is it necessary to kill every other person's hope of even surviving, let alone living just so that who saved you from your hell can have some sadistic pleasure in fulfilling his dreams. TELL ME HAKU, IS THIS ALL REALLY NECESSARY ??" I screamed at her and all she did was look at me with those sad eyes.

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Once Naruto-kun repeated softly what I said, I was hurt to see so much sorrow on his face. Then the look on his face changed, from sorrow to one of anger and hate. Then I started feeling suffocated with the amount of KI he was releasing. Then, the strangest thing happened, his body started releasing red chakra? He was shouting and with every word, my heart sank cause he was correct. Zabuza-sama's dream was killing this nation and I didn't know what to do or say to Naruto-kun. So I just stood there with that evil chakra almost burning my skin, his KI making it difficult for me to even breathe and then he vanished and I felt pain.

The difference in his strength and speed was humongous. Even one blow to my abdomen was enough to make me cry out in pain and I crumbled like a doll.

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After I struck her once and then I kicked her torso brutally and she skidded on to the bridge. With every blow I landed on her, I was torn apart from the inside while I screamed for her to answer me if this was actually necessary. My fury was not being quenched rather I was feeling more pain to see her hurt and to think that I was causing that pain to her, I couldn't take it anymore and dropped down next to her screaming to heaven and then holding my head in my arms and chanting "Why Haku, why?" I felt a pair of arms enveloping me in a hug and I was just so lost to know what to do.

As I calmed down, I realized that my body was burning. It then came to me that for the first time I somehow pulled Kyuubi's youkai forcefully from the seal and it was tearing my body from the inside. I suddenly felt an urge to immediately get my body rid of it.

As I was lost in feelings of helplessness and trying to find a way to flush the youkai from my body. Haku was whimpering from the injuries I gave her in my Kyuubi's youkai induced rage. Then I heard sounds of birds chirping and felt massive chakra build up. Before I realized, Haku pushed her weakened body to stand up and tried to rush in the direction from which I could sense the chakra build up while shouting "Zabuza-sama". I couldn't even react. However, she couldn't reach Zabuza in time. All she was able to do was deflect Hatake's hand, which held a huge mass of chakra from striking Zabuza in the heart, though his right lung wasn't so fortunate. I sighed realizing that Zabuza will be dead in a matter of seconds after being struck with Hatake's signature jutsu, Chidori.

As Hatake removed his hand from Zabuza's torso, his body crumbled on the ground while bleeding profusely from the wound and taking ragged breaths. Haku clung to his body and cried her heart out as I made my way over to Hatake and I guess, Hatake was contemplating what to do with Haku. I missed out what Zabuza was saying to Haku. As I reached Hatake, he looked at me suspiciously, no doubt because he must have felt the Kyuubi's youkai.

"Don't worry, Hatake-san. The seal in intact, I unconsciously pulled its chakra in rage. Also, kindly don't do anything to Zabuza's accomplice as she is heavily injured and I will take full responsibility for her behaviour. Also none of your genin's are mortally wounded." Before I could say anything, there was clapping heard from the other side of the bridge. Gato started insulting Zabuza for being a failure and using Haku for the most nefarious activities. My blood started boiling again on hearing such intentions regarding Haku.

"Kakashi, our fight has ended here. As you can see, Gato double-crossed me and I'm incapable of killing that insect. Please, let Haku go unharmed as she is not even a nunke-nin and only did everything because I asked her to. Lastly, it was an honour to fight you not once but twice." wheezed out Zabuza. Hatake only nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile Gato was relentlessly sprouting garbage and I was already sick of it. I could see that Hatake was tired and so was Haku. Team 7 was useless and that left only me. Luckily I not only wanted kill that vermin but also wanted to expend as much chakra as possible from my body in order to get rid of Kyuubi's youkai from my system. Kurenai-sensei was nowhere in sight and thus I made my decision.

"Hatake-san, you are exhausted from your fight and so is Haku. Luckily for us I want to get rid of as much of Kyuubi's youkai from my system as possible as it is harming my body. I will go first to take care of the vermin and his thugs. In the meantime, I suggest that you take a food pill to replenish your chakra reserves. Let us hope that Kurenai-sensei is not far away."

I moved ahead of everyone and faced off with Gato and party. They were laughing thinking what can a teenager do to a strong army of almost 250 men. First thing I did was create a **Kage Bunshin** with exactly half my reserves. Then I gathered as much chakra as I could and started doing hand seals for the jutsu I had in mind while my bunshin also did the same however the hand seals were different. At the completion of both our sequences, both of us took a great breath and executed our jutsus while muttering.

"**Futon : Reppusho**"

"**Katon : Akuma no Doki **(A/N: I don't know how to translate so I just searched for translations of specific words. The jutsu is to mean '**Demon's Wrath**' and its effect would be literally a wave of expanding flames)"

The result was simply devastating. Kyuubi's youkai which was in my system is more potent for katon jutsus which made the katon jutsu far stronger than I expected. When it combined with the futon jutsu, well lets just say that I expected to decimate the enemies approximately by half and actually they were totally decimated except the few who were smart enough to jump into the water below. The last thing I saw before I succumbed to darkness due to chakra exhaustion was, stunned expression on Hatake's visage when I turned towards him.

----------------------------------------------------

As I returned to the land of the living, I realized that I am back in Tazuna's home. Also, my reserves are only back to a quarter. Lastly, Kurenai-sensei was sitting next to me and Haku was sleeping on her other side. When I tried to get up, Kurenai-sensei forced me to remain lying down and then she spoke.

"Naruto-kun, first of all you will be happy to know that our mission was successful and both Hinata-chan and Shino-kun are completely unhurt. It took us time to reach your location because they had hostages as well. Kakashi tells me that you've quite a tale to tell me. Do give me a full account of your fight."

So, I gave her a complete report of my fight against Haku till the point when I discovered her identity. I hesitated for a while but Kurenai-sensei didn't say a thing. Then I told her about my first meeting with Haku and the reason behind what happened on the bridge. She remained quiet for a while, I guess wondering how to reassure or comfort me.

"Naruto-kun. it is never easy to fight someone who is dear to you. Knowing about the life that you've had and her similar background I'm not surprised by what happened apart from the only fact that you grew close in such a small period of time. However, stranger things have happened. To be on the safer side, once we reach Konoha, I'll ask Hokage-sama to have a look at your seal. I also hope, that this event will also serve as a lesson that in your whole life, there will always come a time when you will have to fight someone precious to you. You will have to be prepared for it. Now, this situation has left us in quite a dilemma. We are undecided on what to do with Haku. When Inuzuka's and Uchiha's wounds were examined and now from your own observation, it is clear that Haku could have killed them anytime throughout the fight. This will definitely work in her favour. Kakashi is conflicted on what to do. He wants to honour Zabuza's dying wish but is also wary of Haku's reliability. What is your opinion on this?"

What _is_ my opinion on this? I am really hurt because of her actions but now when I think with a clear head I am able to understand her point of view. Damn! Hindsight is always 20-20. On thing is for sure, I can't let her be punished, she has already suffered enough.

"Kurenai-sensei, if it is possible then please for my sake, let her go. She has already suffered a lot. Also, I know I'm being selfish and it is unbecoming of a shinobi but I want to try and ask her to come to Konoha with us. She has no one left. I don't want her to feel the pain of loneliness. If possible, I want to help her through it." I replied hopefully. I was surprised to see Kurenai-sensei smile.

"Even though you try to be cold to everyone, Naruto-kun but you have compassion in spades irrespective of the fact that it takes some time for you to show it to others. I'm really proud of you for that. Our life is a long struggle to keep a hold on to our humanity and yours, even more so. Do what you need to do, Naruto-kun and I will take care of Kakashi."

"Kurenai-sensei, if I may, can you part away with a small portion of the money obtained from the Gato's money? I want to ask Tazuna to help building an orphanage for the children here. After all they are the future and Gato made more than half of his fortune by running this land dry."

"Even though I'm sure that Wave Damiyo will definitely use the money for bringing this country back to its former glory, I think it would be wise to do what you want. Orphans are generally the ones who suffer the most. Don't worry about it. Now, it is time for dinner. Why don't you wake Haku up and come downstairs for dinner while I talk to Kakashi?"

After sensei left, I stayed unmoving for sometime, trying to clear my mind. When I thought through everything, I realized that I was very worried about Haku. Given my abysmal social skills, I wondered if I will even be able to help her but then again, talking to her was just so easy. I have procastinated enough, I guess. I went over to her and shook her shoulder.

"Wake up, Haku-chan." She opened her eyes slowly and then looked at me and I said with a smile, "Our positions have changed completely with respect to how we met, ne Haku-chan."

"Sure they have, Naruto-kun." She replied with a smile which vanished within a second. I guess, reality finally caught up with her. I am helpless as I have no clue what to say to her.

"Come, Haku-chan. Dinner is ready downstairs." She has already got up and is staring down at her hands. Her posture suggests that she is extremely sad and has almost lost all hope. Without lifting her head she asks me with a haunted voice.

"Naruto-kun, are you not angry with me? I know I've hurt you a lot and I'm really sorry. I will be happy to take any punishment that you people decide. Anyways Zabuza-sama is gone and I don't have a reason to live anymore. Please kill ..."

Before she could complete the sentence, I interrupted her by giving her a soft hug and saying, "Haku-chan, I have already forgiven you as I have had time to think about your point of view and I understand. Yes, I was hurt but so are you. It is not easy to fight someone you care about. Also, I already told you that you are not a tool, Haku-chan. We are humans and I am sure that even Zabuza would have wanted you to live your life fully. I've already talked with Kurenai-sensei and ensured that you will not be punished. On the other hand, it would really please me if you come to Konoha with us."

She was totally shocked to hear that and was about to protest when I pressed further, "Haku-chan, I know you are alone now. You and I both know that living a solitary life is very torturous. I don't want you to go through that again if I can help you to heal. It is just a request. I don't have a lot of friends and you're very precious to me. Please don't give an answer immediately. Think about it, okay? Now, lets go and have some dinner. Your body is still not healed from all the damage I did but it will heal in time."

I helped her to get up and guided her to the dining table. Our appearance wasn't missed by anyone and already I could see hate and distrust in the other team's eyes. Apparently Hatake hasn't informed them about the situation. By the time, we reached the table, Uchiha is releasing a small amount of KI. Before any of them could open their mouths, I blast them with a moderately large amount of my KI and said in a menacing voice, "Situation regarding her has already been resolved and you will be apprised about it by your sensei. Also, let me make this clear, I'm responsible for her and so think really well before you even think about any sort of revenge."

Haku was stunned, I guess. She may not have expected me to taker her side in front of other Konoha shinobis. Kurenai-sensei gave me a warning look and said my name in serious tone to caution me. Hatake on the other hand was quite displeased by it and did remind me of my place by saying that I should not threat his students. I nodded in his direction and from there everything went fine.

Over the span of next few days, Tazuna tried to complete his bridge. Team 7 went along with him for protection. Sensei told us that we will leave with their team itself and asked us to rest as we had two tough missions back to back. Uchiha was glaring at me and Haku all the time. I guess, he didn't like losing to her or the fact that I succeeded where he didn't or that I saved his life. I won't waste my time thinking about that moron. I spent time with Hinata, Shino and Kurenai-sensei. Haku was absent for long periods of time and was always really sad. Sensei advised me to give her some time to heal alone.

I have already talked to Tazuna regarding the orphanage and he agreed immediately. I continued my routing of meeting with Suki-chan and other kids. I took my team as well. The kids were really happy with the food and for the company as well. One day I surprised them even more when I summoned Kichi. They were flabbergasted to see him speak. Once they overcame their shock, Kichi was run to the ground after giving numerous rides to the kids.

Finally, after two days I took matters into my own hands to help Haku heal a little and took her to the temporary orphanage. Initially she was very quiet and depressed but when all the kids were trying to talk to her, she started talking to them. Then with the help of the kids I finally saw her smile for the first time since that day. She started to come out of her depression. Finally after a weak from the day of the battle, it was time to return to Konoha. I went to meet Suki for the last time and gave her some ryos as they will need it to buy food when I'm gone till the time orphanage is built. All the kids cried a lot and made me really sad that I have to leave them behind. So, I promised them that whenever I will be on a mission nearby, I will visit them. I was happy that I at least did something good for them.

This brings us to my present situation. I have to ask Haku for her answer and I really hope that it is a positive one. So, here I am standing at the edge of a lake, at the centre of which Haku is meditating. I made my way to her and sit in front of her.

"Ohayo Naruto-kun"

"Ohayo Haku-chan. We are finally leaving for Konoha tomorrow."

"I know. I have made my peace with Zabuza-sama's death, Naruto-kun but it still hurts so much." I changed my position to give her a side hug and she rests her head on my shoulder.

"So, what have you decided, Haku-chan? The very thought that you may not come with us, makes me miss you already"

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. You're all that I've left now. I'm not ready for being separated from you."

"Arigato, Haku-chan" I sighed and we just sat there for a long time. Finally I said "Gomenasai, Haku-chan, for everything."

All she said in a very soft voice was, "Arigato, Naruto-kun"

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A/N : Phew !!! finally over. I again sorry for the long wait. i hope the chapter was enjoyable.

Before, you all say that Naruto is a little out of character, please consider that for the first time he met someone who is capable to understand him. Chao!


	7. Prelude to Endgame

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto .... blah blah blah !

A/N : Hey folks. Thankx to everyone who have reviewed. Anyways a lil rambling from my side.

**Spiritwolf33** :: For crying out loud update your story please heck it going on to be 3 months since the last time you updated last so please update your story please

I know I know ... can't help it dude. I have been really busy with work. Secondly, most of the interesting plot will come after 2-3 chapters and everytime I sit to finish this one, I start planning about them :D Also, I was able to find a beta arnd two months back and asked him to beta the chapter till now so thought will put the beta'd chapters first then will upload the latest one. Unfortunately he got busy himself and decided to not beta my story ... so i'm again without a beta .. sniff sniff!

Also, a lot of people have complained about the previous chapter as it was in first person. Well, I felt like doing it in the first person, no harm in experimenting once in a while, and i know it is quite tough to do so. Also, as the previous chapter dealt with building up the relationship b/w haku and naruto, i have always been a sucker for such snippets being written in the first person as it gives a personal touch. No worries, at the least this one isn't in first person.

This is a naruto centric fic, just to reiterate as someone asked though Haku will play a very vital role ahead, romantically and otherwise. No, he will not have a specific weapon.

One major thing I want to clarify is that, when you've been alone for most of your life with no company of the same age group, you try to hang on to anyone who comes your way. someone who can really understand you is very special to you, even if she or he betray you. it is almost impossible to let go. At least from my point of view there was only slight romance in the previous chapter. It was just an odd sort of relationship with more of friendship than romance. Well anyway lets get on with the chapter.

**Chapter 7 :: Prelude to Endgame**

As the two teams were traveling to Konoha, the dynamics were very strained. Team 7 was openly hostile towards Haku, for obvious reasons and Naruto, for threatening them. However, neither of the three genins made any move to quench their thirst for revenge due to the presence of the two jounins. Kakashi was, well, reading Icha Icha. Kurenai was talking with Hinata. Shino was his usual self, aloof and content with himself and his kikkai bugs. Haku was still not totally over the ordeal of losing Zabuza. Naruto was walking beside her thinking about everything that happened during the mission.

As the group of 9 reached the village gates, Kakashi informed Team 7 that they have the next few days off and he will come and tell them when the next meeting was. Kurenai did the same with her team, however, asked Haku to accompany them to the Hokage's office.

"Uzumaki-san, I think it would be prudent if you also come to Sandaime-sama's office to give the report of your battle with Haku-san." said Kakashi. Even though, it was said in his usual nonchalant way, neither Naruto nor Kurenai was fooled. The message was clear that Kakashi wanted him to tell the Hokage about leaking of Kyuubi's youkai.

"As you wish, Hatake-san. I will see you later Hinata-chan, Shino." replied Naruto. The other two nodded to him and then went on their , there were 4.

As the unusual group reached the Hokage's office, they were immediately ushered inside. On seeing the group assembled before him, Sarutobi gave a genuine smile. Even though, he has already been briefed by Kurenai via Gamakichi, he was still happy to see that both the teams have returned safely. In their line of work, missions can anytime change ranks due to factors unaccounted for, it was still a rarity for two missions to go from C rank to possibly A rank and that too at the same time and around the same place. Was this an omen or something?

"If I may Sandaime-sama, I think we should have the debriefing without Haku-san's presence so that it can be precise and uncensored." recommended Kakashi. Sarutobi nodded and indicated ANBUs present in his office to take Haku outside and stand as guard. He didn't want this conversation to be heard, even by them. Once Haku left the office, Kakashi gave his report while specifically mentioning that he felt Kyuubi's youkai just before he struck Zabuza with Chidori. Then Kurenai gave her report of two successful high ranked missions. Finally it was Naruto's turn to give his report and he did just that. Though, he didn't mention why he was so enraged to call upon Kyuubi's youkai and Sarutobi didn't ask him about it. He understood that for Naruto to react like that, it must have been personal and he would ask him about it when they were alone. Sarutobi then asked him to show the seal.

"Naruto-kun was correct about the fact that the seal is intact. I am privy to few of the special features of the seal and Yondaime did apprise me that Naruto-kun may call upon Kyuubi's youkai in time of need or when feeling strong emotions. He specifically told me that it doesn't mean that the seal is breaking. Although to be completely sure, I will send a missive to my vagabond disciple to come and check it properly. Now, Kakashi and Kurenai, I will call you both separately, at a later time to discuss your teams' performance. I already have your recommendations for what to do about Haku-san. You may go now." said Sarutobi. Both of them nodded and shunshin-ed out of Sarutobi's office. Now that they were alone, Sarutobi turned towards Naruto and prepared to have a long conversation.

"So Naruto-kun, would you like to tell me what is bothering you?"

"I don't know, jiji. I am so confused right now."

"Why don't you try and explain everything to me."

"When I was in Wave, everything was so different. There were no glares or people whispering behind my back. I felt, for lack of a better word, free. Then I made a friend in Haku who knew the same pain of loneliness that I do. Her betrayal hurt very much but then when I thought about it from her point of view, I could at the least understand what made her do the things she did. I could forgive her to an extent. More than the forgiveness, I was worried that she will have to bear the pain of loneliness all over again and I know how traumatizing it is. I just wanted to save her from that dark place. However, from the moment we entered the village, the villagers' hostility is making me second guess my decision. I mean if you, Anko-chan or my team ever betray me, I will be shattered. But say, you have to take a decision which may not be in my interest but was better for the village or your family, then I'll be hurt because of it but I could never hate you. I somehow feel the same about her. I know that she kind of betrayed me but I also understand her decision. I just don't know what to feel, somehow I have a feeling that she is being genuine as a friend."

"Naruto-kun, I can't give you the answer to your dilemma but I can impart some of my wisdom on you. As a shinobi, we are always conflicted whether to follow our heart or mind. My old friend, Danzo will tell you to follow the latter but I would like to believe that the answer lies in moderation. We have to decide which of them to follow. Usually our heart leads us to the correct path, as what our mind dictates, to a great extent, is influenced by our heart. You will hear that I am regularly criticized for being weak by the hard-liner strata of shinobis. And they have a very good reason for it. Many years back I let my student, Orochimaru escape in spite of the heinous crimes committed by him. My heart made me hesitate and I'm sure that decision will someday come back to bite me. In spite of that I still believe in the goodness of others which people misunderstand as a weakness. There are very few people who are inherently evil, most are just the manifestation of the evil situation. In any altercation, majority of the people involved are there only because they do it out of love or loyalty. That is because in our world, it is equally easy to be allies as it is to be enemies. It all comes down to protect what is precious to you. Despite all my past failures, I will never hesitate to strike at someone who wishes to harm Konoha, again. Think about it, Naruto-kun, as this is only the first of many dilemmas which you will face in your life. Now, why don't you ask Haku-san to come inside so that we can decide what to do with her."

"Arigato jiji. You have given me a lot to think about." said Naruto and turned to call Haku inside. Once Haku came inside, she was standing with her head low and her entire posture was submissive. She was still distraught.

"Haku-san, let me be frank. Your situation is quite precarious. Kakashi has apprised me of Zabuza's request even though he has his reservations regarding it. One thing which is working for you is that you are not a nuke-nin in Kirigakure's bingo book. That small fact enables me to give you asylum in Konoha. If I decide to do that, would you like to be a civilian or join Konoha's shinobi ranks?"

"I have been a kunoichi for the better part of my life, Hokage-sama. I would prefer not to be a civilian."

"I expected that much. Zabuza claimed that you were stronger than him but from your battle against Naruto, I guess that was mainly because of your kekkei genkai. Regardless, I cannot give you the rank of jounin so easily. You will be on probation and will be of chunin rank. Now, I've been told that you're interested in medical jutsus, would you like to work as a medic at the hospital and going on missions when required, as a field medic?"

"If it is not too much of a trouble Hokage-sama, I do not want to work as a medic nin at the hospital. It is true that I like the art of medicine but after what has happened I want to live as anonymously as possible with the least interaction with the general public. I need time to recover from this episode and to come to terms with the fact that Zabuza-sama is not there in my life anymore."

That surprised the other two occupants. Sarutobi looked towards Naruto and all he did was shrug. Then, Sarutobi had a devious idea and gave a feral smile to Naruto who was filled with dread due to some reason.

"I guess that is acceptable. From your skills I think you will do well in ANBU but to confirm that you will be tested to see if you meet the requirements. During your probation period, you will be under the command of Mitarashi Anko. Although she is in the Interrogation and Torture department, you will not be inducted in the same once your probation period is over. If you pass the test then I will find you an appropriate team after that."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama and arigato for giving me this opportunity."

"Do not thank me yet, Haku-san. The things which are not working in your favor are that you have been working with a nuke-nin for most of your life, you attacked Konoha shinobis and surprisingly, you have a kekkei genkai. In Konoha, kekkei genkais are revered and still it is not a good point for you. If a clan wishes to join Konoha then they would have been heartily welcomed, you on the other hand are a single kunoichi. Every clan without a kekkei genkai will try to force you to be a concubine for someone from their clan to get your kekkei genkai inducted into their clan. I will try and do what I can but the final decision will rest with the council. We are not barbaric enough to literally force you but rest assured there will be enough political pressure."

Sarutobi then handed Haku her chunin vest and hitai-ate. He then gave her some ryos to settle down and keys to an apartment for which she will have to pay rent. Haku accepted everything gratefully.

"Naruto-kun, why don't you show Haku-san around to help her familiarize herself with Konoha and help her find her apartment. It is in the building adjacent to yours. Also, after two high ranked missions, your team will have next couple of days free. Dismissed."

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Once they left Sarutobi's office, Naruto gave Haku the general tour and showed her the basic shops where she can buy most of the essentials. They hardly talked during that time, apart from Naruto telling her the requisite facts. This was mostly because Naruto was still pondering about what Sarutobi told him and also because of the villagers. He didn't want to be overtly friendly with Haku to spare her the discrimination from the villagers

After two hours, we find the pair of them in front of Haku's apartment which was already furnished. Naruto already showed the location of his apartment to Haku. His apartment was in a shinobi building next to hers. He doesn't live in his father's house as he isn't ready to claim the Namikaze name yet. As he stood on the threshold of her apartment with her standing on the other side, the silence was deafening. He sighed and decided to come clean with her.

"Haku-chan, I didn't want to be cold to you while I was giving you the tour. The villagers don't like me due to an S - class secret which I'm not ready to tell you yet. I didn't want them to hate you as well. I didn't lie when I said that tou-san died fighting for the village. Due to the secret that I can't tell you, I'm hated here. Kichi was my only friend for a long time. You will be meeting the other person who became my friend after Kichi as she is your probation officer. She is a little eccentric.

"Also Haku-chan, please don't doubt if I've forgiven you or not, cause I have. It just hurts a little. I am sure we'll be fine in no time. I'm always there for you, so just come and find me whenever you are free. The same goes for my team, they will treat you well. Take care. Ja Ne." said Naruto as he turned to leave.

He was stopped though, when a pair of arms hugged him from behind and he heard Haku say, "Arigato, Naruto-kun, for everything."

"No problem, Haku-chan. I'll see ya around." replied Naruto and left on his way.

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News of Team 7's encounter with Zabuza and thus completion of an A-ranked mission spread like fire in the village. Though, the villagers were even more surprised because of the success of Team 8. Kurenai was congratulated for completing one A and another B-ranked missions back to back. Somehow, Naruto's involvement in Team 7's mission was also leaked and it was causing quite an uproar. All these years, everyone thought that the "Kyuubi-brat" was totally incompetent and thus insignificant. However, now the fear was creeping back into the villagers' minds. Shinobis were also quite baffled with his performance as his reports from academy were anything but flattering.

This brings us to the present situation. Sarutobi was heading to the council meeting which was convened at the beginning of every month and later whenever it was required. This was one of those which fall under the latter. Somehow Sarutobi knew that he is going to have a major headache by the time the meeting runs its course. As the meeting began, the first agenda was debriefing the council about Team 7's and Team 8's missions. There was no point in hiding them as the abridged version of the reports were allowed to be accessed by any of the councilman or councilwoman. Immediately the questions arose about Naruto's quite stellar performance in both the missions.

"Do not be surprised at Uzumaki's performance as I ensured that his training wasn't hindered and correctly assigned him to Yuhhi Kurenai's team." assured Sarutobi.

The civilian half of the council was perturbed that how did the "Kyuubi-brat" improved so much. However, the other half comprising of the clan heads had no difficulty in reading between the lines that 'even though you morons tried to sabotage his growth, I out-wit you by a mile and took care of his training covertly', let aside the fact that they were still being misled by Sarutobi's straight-faced lie.

The civilian council immediately started shouting about letting that thing gain so much power. The clan heads remained neutral as always but they were also a little disturbed with Naruto becoming too strong as they still had reservations about the seal's efficiency. With the advent of the chunin exams, the merchants have gained a lot of power to manipulate certain decisions in the council, after all they will be paying a hefty sum out of their profits to Konoha's treasury. Sarutobi was being pressed hard to do something about it. They didn't even know what they wanted to be done, they just wanted Sarutobi to curb the "Kyuubi-brat".

Before they could pressure him for more than 2 minutes, the doors of the room opened which was missed by most of the people present in the room. Then suddenly a new voice stopped everyone in their tracks.

"I don't think you can do anything about Uzumaki-san, honorable councilmen. Firstly, Uzumaki-san is now under Sandaime-sama's direct command. Secondly, even if you're presently able to pressurize him, I will support him completely against you."

"This is a matter for the council to discuss. How dare you disturb us?" roared an agitated merchant and immediately the person was surrounded by ANBUs.

"Oh! My apologies but apparently I'm a member of this council, by proxy of course." the reply stunned everyone at the audacity of the claim. Before the things derailed even further, Sarutobi decided to intervene, though if one looked keenly they could have seen a smirk appearing on his face.

"What is the meaning of disturbing us and your bold claim, Yuhhi-san?" asked Sarutobi.

"Gomenasai Hokage-sama for being a little late to the meeting. As for the reason for how I'm a member of the council, according to Konoha Charter Laws, when a kunoichi or shinobi is appointed as the Hokage, the clan she or he belongs to, is entitled to a seat on the council, if they do not already have one. I'm simply representing in place of Namikaze-sama." replied Kurenai with a small smile.

The whole council was stunned, except Sarutobi of course but he was wearing his game face. Then as one, everyone started shouting and accusing of the blasphemy of the claim. Namikaze line was dead since the sacrifice of Yondaime.

"Silence" shouted Sarutobi and let out a small amount of KI to ensure that they comply. "Yuhhi-san, that is a very dangerous claim, considering the fact that Namikazes are no more since Yondaime-dono expired. Do you even have any proof to support your claim and who is this descendant of Yondaime-dono?"

"I do not know who is the present Namikaze clan head as I've never met her or him. I was recruited by Namikaze-sama through a toad summon. As for the proof, I've this scroll which has the clan seal designed by Yondaime-sama. We all know that when chakra is pushed through Yondaime-sama's seal, it shows a hologram of Namikaze clan symbol only if the seal is made by someone of Namikaze blood and is infused with the same person's chakra. I'm not aware of Namikaze-sama's reasons for not disclosing her or his identity but we can all presume that this may be a precaution to avoid any retaliation from Yondaime-sama's enemies, which were and are numerous." explained Kurenai and passed the scroll to Sarutobi who after authenticating it, passed it down to the other members. Once everyone read through it and authenticated it, Kurenai took it back.

"The seal is authentic. This proves that the Namikaze clan still exists and thus Yuhhi-san is allowed to represent the same on this council. Even I cannot go against the ancient laws." said Sarutobi. There was a pregnant pause in which Sarutobi indicated to the ANBUs to take back their positions and continued. "Yuhhi-san, please take a seat. Kindly disregard any action which may have offended you as it is not everyday that someone enters these chambers and then make such a claim. Nevertheless, you come bearing a joyous news that the Namikaze clan is not extinct. The council awaits the day when Namikaze-dono will take his/her rightful place on the council."

Once Kurenai took a seat, she prepared herself to relay Naruto's message. She was aware that everyone was still staring at her and quite a few have still not digested the fact that a descendant of Yondaime was alive.

"Arigato Hokage-sama. Unfortunately, I also come bearing some unpleasant news. Namikaze-sama is very displeased that the same people for whom Yondaime-sama sacrificed his life, have disrespected him in the worst possible manner. Yondaime-sama only had one dying wish and that was for Uzumaki-san to be seen as a hero but the people of Konoha have ashamed his sacrifice by mistreating and discriminating against Uzumaki-san. Namikaze-sama believes that this atrocity can't be allowed to continue and thus, she/he has a final warning for the council. 'I, as the present Namikaze clan head, is hereby giving one final warning to the council to ensure that Uzumaki-san is to be treated properly. Failing to do so, will result in all the stocks held by Namikaze clan in the various establishments of Konoha to be given as a gift to Uzumaki-san and a formal complaint to be lodged with the Damiyo. To remind all of you, Yondaime-sama was a very wealthy individual due to his excellent performance as a shinobi and he invested majority of his earnings in businesses of Konoha. Also, you all will be totally incapable of stopping any of it as the commercial accounts of Konoha are directly managed by the office of the Damiyo.'"

After the mind boggling ultimatum presented by Kurenai, the whole room was deathly silent. No one had a clue about how to respond to something like that. No one expected anything like this to happen. No one, apart from Sarutobi, was aware about the fact that the aforementioned wealth was inclusive of the wealth of Uzumaki clan. And, only the merchants were actually aware of the holdings under the name of Namikaze clan. That also included the fact that, presently the dividend they provide to Namikaze account was minimal and could be changed to its actual amount anytime the clan head wished it.

Due to all this swimming around in their heads, there wasn't even a small protest against Kurenai's induction to the council. The clan heads couldn't protest as the seal was an irrefutable proof for them. Also, any protest now may result in the same action against them, if ever there comes a situation when their clan meets the same fate.

On the other hand, Sarutobi was doing his best to contain his mirth at the situation. To think that Naruto blind-sided even him was amazing. All he could do was congratulate Naruto silently. Deciding that he should bring everyone out of the shock, he proceeded to go on with the meeting by clearing his throat.

"The second agenda of the meeting is to consider a request for induction of a kunoichi named Haku into Konoha's shinobi ranks. On Team 7's mission in which Mamochi Zabuza met his demise, Haku-san was his accomplice. After finding out that he was double crossed by Gato, Zabuza requested Kakashi to ask me if she can join Konoha. I've decided to induct her in our shinobi ranks. She is very talented and is not even marked as a missing nin in Kiri's bingo book. She was personally trained by Zabuza after he defected from Kiri. Now, the most important reason that I'm granting her asylum in Konoha is that it would be immensely beneficial for us. She has a very rare kekkei genkai which was thought to be extinct." said Sarutobi playing the council by their fascination of the bloodlines.

"What is this kekkei genkai, Sarutobi?", asked Danzo knowing that it was the question on everyone's mind.

"Oh! She has the Hyouton Kekkei Genkai. She can even do one-handed seals. Like I said, she is very talented."

"That is definitely a good news, Sarutobi. Perhaps, you would let me train her. I will make sure that she becomes an excellent kunoichi." stated Danzo without any emotion.

"I'm sorry old friend but there is no point in you training her as she is already very skilled. She may even be at jounin level. I cannot with good conscience, fringe upon your valuable time." refuted Sarutobi very easily. Danzo wasn't pleased but this was their age old game of words.

"Then the Kanada clan would be happy to have her in our clan, Hokage-sama." said the Kanada clan head.

"Of course, you would Kanada-dono. After all your clan has always wanted a kekkei genkai." scoffed Inuzuka Tsume.

"You are one to talk, Inuzuka-dono. The clans who already have a kekkei genkai don't miss any opportunity in boasting about how your clans' shinobis are so much better due to the special attributes of your respective kekkei genkais. Of all the people, you don't have the right to accuse me for trying to augment my clan with a powerful kekkei genkai." answered Kanada clan head heatedly.

"Oh! Then do tell Kanada-dono, why should it be your clan to have such an honour when clearly there are other clans as well which don't have a kekkei genkai, regardless of the fact that you aren't doing this to help out a kunoichi but to simply use her for breeding." accused the Gekko clan head.

Similar arguments broke out for around 5 minutes and Sarutobi was rubbing his temple as he knew such a problem would arise. Thankfully, after the attempt to abduct the Hyuga heiress for experimenting and breeding of Byakugan by Kumo, no one had the balls to even insinuate such a thing. That would result in a really bad headache. The respite came from the most obvious, yet surprising source as Kurenai finally spoke up.

"You all are fighting over a fellow Konoha kunoichi as a hungry pack of wolves fight over a piece of meat. Are you all so blinded by your greed that you forget that now she is a comrade, rather than a commodity which you can barter. Konoha is hailed as the strongest and most honorable shinobi village throughout the elemental nations. We do have our own skeletons in the closet but we treat our shinobis with respect. If this isn't the case then we are no better than Orochimaru. Namikaze-sama was worried that such a situation may arise. Therefore, Namikaze-sama has evoked Konoha Charter Law 07 by claiming that Haku-san is a ward of the Namikaze clan. As Haku-san has not wronged any of the clans, the law states that she can't be inducted into any clan without her own free will and till that time comes, any slight against her will be taken as a direct offence against the Namikaze clan. Namikaze-sama also understands that her or his clan has just joined this esteemed council. Also, this action compounded with his previous one may seem disrespectful and she or he apologises in advance if her or his actions have offended any of the honorable councilman or councilwoman. However, Namikaze-sama cannot allow such blatant disregard of the morals and traditions of a village for which Yondaime-sama sacrificed everything."

Again, Kurenai's monologue silenced everyone. It hit them where it matters the most, their hatred for Orochimaru and their belief of moral high ground. A majority of the council was displeased with Naruto's hand twisting but the ones who were just arguing over Haku were quite ashamed as well. The truth was that Naruto definitely didn't make any friends in the council as no one in the position of power likes to be proved wrong. So, even though no one could say anything now, less they shame themselves even more, Naruto won't be getting any favors from anyone apart from the few of the moral ones. Then again, in politics you gain some and you lose some. Ultimately every vote counts and so would his when the time comes.

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As it turned out, after returning to Konoha Naruto had the next two days free. The first day he spent in parts with Kichi and Konohamaru crops. The day worked wonders for relaxing his mind and body. He didn't meet Anko that day and thought that she may be busy with Haku. The next day, though he was dumped off his bed by Anko. She had an amused grin on her face.

"What the hell, Anko-chan?" yelled Naruto groggily.

"I'm hurt, Naruto-kun. You came back after a month, completing two high ranked missions and I have to hear that from the gossip going on amongst the shinobis." sighed Anko dramatically.

"Oye, don't push the blame on me. You were kind of unavailable yesterday. Day before that I didn't have the energy to deal with your idiosyncrasies. Where the hell were you yesterday?"

"I was babysitting the kunoichi you people brought along. Her mood can put a damper on my mood too! I haven't been so depressed even when I'm unable to have dango for a couple of days. I gave her the day off so that she can pull herself together and I can get the full story about the missions from your mouth itself."

"Hai hai. Let me freshen up and then we can go and have some breakfast. I know Haku is depressed right now but I'm sure you will ensure that she has other things on her mind soon, like staying alive or maintain her sanity." said Naruto and immediately rushed into the bathroom.

"Hey I resent that. I'm perfectly sane. Don't worry Naruto-kun, we will soon find out who will have to worry about staying alive. I've a full month to make up for, after all." said Anko teasingly and a shiver passed through Naruto's spine.

Both of them went to eat dango after Naruto freshened up. Then they moved on to their usual training ground where Naruto told Anko about everything. Anko was impressed with his performance and complimented him for dealing efficiently with his opponent on the first mission. She told him that skill wise he is already low jounin level but he needs more combat experience to actually be at that level. Naruto also explained Haku's situation and Anko couldn't help but sympathize with her. Finally he began to tell her about the stunt he pulled with the council with the help of Kurenai.

"So you finally told Kurenai-chan about Yondaime-sama huh!"

"Summoning Kichi in front of my team would have been a dead give away, had we not been in such a tense situation. I was sure that they would be able to put everything together, like you. So, just before we were about to leave for Konoha, I explained everything to my team. Surprisingly only Hinata was surprised. Anyways I trust them enough to not spill my secrets."

"Hey how come I don't get to meet Kichi again?"

"Do you really want me to explain that. He has been scarred for life with the way you treated him when I introduced him to you. He has explicitly told me to keep you away from him."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that a toad summon won't be too happy around some of my toys?"

"Only you, Anko-chan. Only you." chuckled Naruto and they continued chatting. After around two hours, they were interrupted by an ANBU who came to tell Anko that she has been summoned by the hokage. Naruto was just lying on the ground and enjoying the serenity of his surroundings when he caught some movement in the corner of his eyes. As he turned in that direction, he realized that someone with a walking stick was moving towards his direction and he got up, just to be ready for anything.

"Uzumaki-san"

"Danzo-san" greeted Naruto with a small bow.

"I had a very interesting council meeting yesterday, Uzumaki-san. Very interesting indeed." said Danzo cryptically.

"How so, Danzo-san?" asked Naruto without giving anything away.

"Your performance was excellent in both the missions, Uzumaki-san. Konoha needs shinobis like you from your generation. I can provide you the tools to reach your true potential, Uzumaki-san. Will you be interested in such an offer?" asked Danzo while changing the topic effortlessly.

"And that offer would be to join your 'Ne' ANBUs, Danzo-san?"

"You're unusually well-informed about things you're not supposed to, Uzumaki-san. However, I think its pretty obvious that where you're concerned, Sarutobi plays his cards quite close to his heart, if your training with Mitarashi-san is any indication. Even after Orochimaru's defection, Sarutobi has an utmost faith in her and thus her fierce loyalty to him. Ultimately it comes down to loyalty, isn't it Uzumaki-san, whether it is my sub-ordinates or Sarutobi's?"

"People loyal to Sandaime-sama, do it out of their own free will, Danzo-san. The same can't be said for yours."

"Don't let other people's opinions formulate yours, boy. Everything I've done in my life is for the betterment of Konoha. I provide a purpose to the shinobis under me. Believe me or not, one such as myself is a necessary evil. Who do you think does the dirty work for Konoha, which is not projected to the rest of the world. Even Sarutobi agrees with my viewpoint otherwise, do you actually think an operation of such a scale can go on without his knowledge. Regardless of what Sarutobi may try to project, he isn't known as the 'The Professor' for nothing. As loathe as I am to say, he can finish 'Ne' without any significant effort from his side."

Naruto was stunned. He never expected for his first meeting with the ever reclusive Danzo would be anything like this. Danzo sighed at the stupefied expression on the young shinobi's visage. He didn't want to waste someone with so much talent.

"Do give a serious thought to what I have to offer, Uzumaki-san. Talent like yours should not be wasted. Even though the general populace of Konoha places a lot of faith in their revered kekkei genkais, I believe them to be just tools to be used. Talent is in the shinobi and not his kekkei genkai. Similarly, you're a talented shinobi, what is sealed inside of you is just a tool to be used for your own devices." after a small pause, he continued. "Speaking of kekkei genkais, you will be happy to know that Zabuza's apprentice has been protected from being influenced by any of the clans of Konoha, but you already knew that, didn't you, Uzumaki-san? I wish you luck for the future." and just like that Danzo was gone without even voicing but indicating quite clearly that he knew a lot more than what Naruto was comfortable with.

Naruto sighed and lied back down. This definitely turned out to be a very weird day for him and it wasn't even over by a long shot.

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As the day progressed, Naruto first spent some time with Konohamaru and his friends. Then as he didn't have anything else to do, he decided to meditate at his usual training ground. Naruto had been meditating for about an hour when he felt a sudden change in the wind drift and his instincts kicked in. He immediately back flipped from his position and saw several shurikens missing him by a hair's breadth. Before he could comprehend what was happening a fist was planted in his gut which made him skid a couple of feet back and left him wheezing.

Naruto immediately went into battle mode and disabled all the seals on his person. Meanwhile his attacker was simply observing him. Naruto was surprised to find that he was being attacked by an ANBU. However, he didn't have time to ponder about the precarious situation he was in, as immediately his attacker was upon him. Thus ensued an intense taijutsu fight. Naruto was able to keep up with his attacker but he had to put everything into it. Even then, his attacker eventually found a weakness in his defense and kicked him in the chest. Naruto staggered backwards but kept his eyes on his attacker who was already finishing through hand seals. Naruto saw a water dragon rise from the lake and head towards him.

Without wasting any time, he did his hand seals and stomped on the ground. He was just in time as well because immediately a slab of earth rose to bear the impact of the water dragon. Naruto's mind was working in overdrive and he immediately created few kage bunshins, two of which stayed by his side while the remaining scattered in pairs. Within moments he obtained memories of one of his bunshin telling him where exactly the attacker was while another bunshin engaged him whose life was very short lived but it served its purpose. The two clones by his side immediately did hand seals for Futon: Renkudon and Katon: Gokkakyu and sent an overpowered ball of fire streaking towards the foe. He was sure that his foe didn't have time to pull off any jutsu, therefore he was really astonished to find the remains of wood burning where his foe was supposed to be.

He felt movement in the ground below and quickly jumped in the air. The bunshins by his side sent their shurikens followed by multiplying them with Kage Shuriken no jutsu at his opponent before he even emerged completely from the ground. His opponent's body was riddled with shurikens and he sighed in relief. His relief was short lived when the body disappeared in a poof signifying that it was a kage bunshin. Before he could react, he felt a kunai at his neck and his opponent's voice drifted in his ear "You were careless, Uzumaki-san."

"Was I?" said Naruto and without any delay his body exploded.

All that remained were remnants of splintered wood in the shapes of body parts. Then, the ANBU emerged from a tree as if he was a part of it and clapped couple of times. "Bravo, Uzumaki-san. You've impressed me. Apparently the rumors are not just that in your case, there is some credence to them. Tell me, when did you replace yourself with a bunshin daibakuha?"

"The same time you went underground." replied Naruto as he dropped down from a tree on the other end of the training ground.

Naruto was still wary of this ANBU, so he kept his distance. There was a staring match which lasted hardly few seconds, following which the ANBU sighed and started talking to Naruto.

"Be at ease, Uzumaki-san. I will not be attacking you any further. I've already achieved my objective."

"And what would that objective be, ANBU-san?"

"I wanted to test your skills, obviously. And let me say that you weren't disappointing at all. Then again, if someone like Anko-san praises someone, he or she has to be impressive. I'm sure that you've already surmised that I've Anko-san's trust as she isn't one to talk about something personal with everyone."

"Thanks for the compliment, ANBU-san. However, what is the real purpose of your visit?"

"Ah, so you're not dumb either. Good good, you've got to have some brains to be be a competent shinobi. You're a very interesting shinobi, Uzumaki-san and you've got quite a lot of important people intrigued. Since your childhood, you haven't had any friends. As soon as you were removed from the orphanage, the entire village became aware of your regular presence and thus made you aware of their hate. Then some time later, your presence almost disappeared. Don't get me wrong, you were seen in the village from time to time but it was clear that it was only for appearance sake. Then you joined the academy where, initially, you were slightly active but then that also ended and eventually you failed in your first year. Since then your performance has been below average. Somewhere during that time, you came in contact with Anko-san and trained with her which is known to hardly anyone. The shocker came when Hokage-sama assigned you to Kurenai-san's team disregarding your lack of skills and the fact that there were quite a few people who would have fit perfectly in that team. However, from the moment you became a genin, your performance has been excellent and your teammates only have respect and praise for you.

"This all may be confusing to some but very enlightening to others. You are aware of your burden. You are very skilled. Above all, you are very deceptive and that is, I believe your most amazing skill. Now that we have covered the fact that we know everything about you, if I make a proposition to you, will you be interested?"

"I cannot deny the fact that you're quite accurately informed about me that it makes me uncomfortable. Though, what does give me comfort is the fact that you're not as informed as you would like to be. A shinobi needs to have some secret, ne. Anyways, what is this proposition of yours?"

"I would like to recruit you to become a part of ANBU corps. There are certain stipulations which need to be met, though. You've to become a chunin as being a chunin, at the least, is the foremost requirement to join ANBU. Your overall skills are satisfactory apart from genjutsu. I'm, as well as Hokage-sama is aware of that due to Anko-san's and Kurenai-san's feedback. You need to be competent enough to release at the least high B-rank genjutsus."

"That is a very lucrative opportunity, ANBU-san as it aligns perfectly with my goals. I want nothing more than the anonymity of ANBU life, considering the disposition of the villagers towards me. I have full intentions of becoming a chunin in the coming exams so we'll just have to wait and watch about that. Finally, regarding genjutsu, I'm very much aware of how vulnerable it leaves me and thus Kurenai-sensei and I have been working on it regularly and I may finally have an idea about how to overcome this particular handicap. Hopefully, it will be fruitful. I am very interested in that offer, ANBU-san."

"I am happy to hear that, Uzumaki-san. Hopefully, we will meet soon. I will take your leave then."

"Wait, can you at least tell me your codename?"

"All in good time, Uzumaki-san. You've to earn it by meeting those stipulations. Ja ne!" said the ANBU and disappeared from the field.

"What an interesting day!" said Naruto as he laid down on the ground.

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It has been two weeks since the teams 7 and 8 returned to Konoha along with Haku. Both the teams were back to their original routines while Haku was working with Anko. Everything was back to normal if one disregards the animosity shown by Team 7 whenever their paths crossed with Team 8. Haku, on the other hand, was depressed. She still completed her assignments with Anko but even Anko's fiery nature was unable to pull her out of her funk.

So we find Haku sitting by the lake on the training ground which was used by her and Anko. As usual she was depressed and was wallowing in her sorrow. Suddenly the training ground was filled with mist which was becoming thicker with every passing moment. Initially, Haku didn't take notice of the change but then she was really confused. As she was trying to comprehend what was going on, she heard a whistling sound from above her and all her instincts were telling her to move away from the spot but she only had time to move a few feet to the left.

Immediately she was shocked to see that Kubikiri Hocho was embedded in the place where she was a few moments ago. She didn't have time to react to the kick to her face which sent her sailing across the field as her attacker was Zabuza himself who used the handle as a pivot to kick her. As Haku was trying to get over the shock, Zabuza removed the Kubikiri Hocho from the ground and starting moving towards Haku.

"Za ... Zabuza-sama " stammered Haku.

"How pathetic you have become, Haku. Is this the extent of your will? Perhaps I should end your miserable existence right now." the shear contempt in his voice was killing Haku.

"But ... I don't have anything more to live for. I wasn't a good tool, I couldn't even save your life." said Haku as she lowered her head. The backhand that lifted her body off the ground wasn't expected but did jar her from her thoughts to focus on the man in front of her.

"All those years back, did I save you from the streets so that you can perish like this, without any meaning. What will be my legacy, that 'Oh you remember Zabuza? Yeah! some demon he was, his apprentice couldn't even survive after his death. Shows you that rumors are just that, rumors.' Is this how you honour our time together? How do you think I feel when I see you like this, moping like a drama queen? We are shinobis, death is a part of our lives. Was I that big a failure that I was unable to teach you even this? Perhaps, I was a failure, no wonder I failed to assassinate Mizukage. To harbour such an unattainable dream of leading a whole village of shinobis, when I failed to raise even one true kunoichi. I guess Gato was right after all, that I died pathetically."

Every remark was breaking her heart and spirit. She was feeling ashamed of herself for being so selfish. She remembered when Zabuza told her to live her life without regrets as his dying wish. She thought that even though she lost Zabuza, there were people like Naruto, Anko and even Hinata to help her along. She knew that Zabuza was dead, so she thought may be she was dreaming. Then the apparition in front of her started bad mouthing Zabuza-sama and his dream. Cold fury ran through her body as the 'Zabuza' kept on bad mouthing Zabuza-sama. Then to mock his death was the breaking point. Unconsciously, senbon needles materialized around her and launched at the impostor as she snarled with rage.

"You dare insult Zabuza-sama's dream and memory. I will kill you."

The impostor simply jumped sideways to avoid the attack and looked at her as if she was an insect. This infuriated her and she tried to hit him but he evaded all her attacks.

"I'm the one who is insulting Zabuza? Don't make me laugh. What is it you're doing with your life? Shows how pathetic you are. Is this all that Zabuza taught you?"

Before she could react, the impostor kneed her in the gut followed by a shattering kick to her face. Her vision became hazy. She felt the impostor hold her hair and raised her to face him. The pain made her vision to focus. Then the illusion shattered in front of her eyes. The impostor dropped the henge to reveal himself as Naruto. She saw Kurenai standing at the edge of the field and she understood that there was a subtle genjutsu in the play.

"Last time we fought, you gave me a run for my money. Today, you couldn't even touch me. Do you realize how low you've fallen in your self loathing? Is this how you're going to pay respect to Zabuza's memory, Haku-chan?" said Naruto with pain in his voice. He loosened his grip on her hair and held her in a loose embrace as Haku clutched his shirt and started crying.

"He wouldn't want you to wither away, Haku-chan. I'm sure it must be hurting him to see you like this from wherever he is. It is time to let go." After some time Haku stopped crying and hugged him properly.

"Arigato, Naruto-kun. I needed a wake up call, I guess."

"No problem, Haku-chan. I am just happy that Anko will stop cribbing about your sorry state. She can be a right bitch" joked Naruto.

"Tell me about it. I have to keep up with it for I don't know how long." replied Haku with a slight giggle. Neither had any idea that one snake mistress is going to make their life hell for laughing at her expense.

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"Sasori-sama" said a voice softly with respect.

"Kabuto, you better have a good reason to call me here. Didn't I tell you to keep tabs on that treacherous snake?" said an irritated voice

"Gomenasai Sasori-sama but I've news you may be interested in. Orochimaru is going to attack Konoha during the chunin exams finals. He has already acquired an alliance with the Kazekage but he is planning on killing him to take his place so that he can kill Sarutobi."

"Is it supposed to mean something to me? I don't give a damn if Konoha burns to ground as long as the Kyuubi jinchuriki stays alive. I'm sure that pathetic snake isn't suicidal enough to bring leader-sama's ire on him by killing the jinchuriki. As for my former village, after killing Sandaime Kazekage myself, do you think I care if his successor dies. My patience is running low, Kabuto."

"My apologies Sasori-sama. I've another news that may interest you. Orochimaru is planning on giving the curse seal to Uchiha Sasuke and then lure him to defect with promises of gaining more power. His true motive is only to take over his body, of course. I'm sure Itachi-san will be be most displeased to hear this."

"Since the day Itachi humiliated him, Orochimaru has become obsessed with the Sharingan. It seems you're good for something after all. Make sure that Orochimaru can't take his body. Itachi has use for his eyes. If the situation gets out of hand, then kill the snake otherwise stick to your mission. Now leave, I've better things to do."

"As you wish, Sasori-sama"

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A ninja dressed in all black was kneeling in front of Sarutobi and from the expression on Sarutobi's face the news was quite grave.

"Are you sure this is the correct way of handling the matter, Hokage-sama? I can very well incapacitate him if not kill him."

"No, you've done enough and your present assignment is much more important. I will deal with the snake. As for the invasion, I'll inform the council a week before the invasion. That much time will be enough for the preprations to thwart this stupid plan of Orochimaru. Dealing with Oto and Suna will hardly harm us. There are bigger predators out there like Akatsuki. And call this an intuition of an old man but I'm sure that Iwa and Kumo are just itching to cause chaos and if what Jiraiya has been finding for the last couple of years is to be believed, then Iwa has definitely been building an army. This village has become too peaceful and has forgotten that this is a hidden village. They need a wake up call if Konoha is to prevail the coming decade. Don't worry about anything else apart from your mission. Just pass on my scroll to either Jiraiya or the future Hokage whenever you wish to return to the village as I'm already at the end of my years."

"I donot know if I'll be able to commute with you before I complete my assignment, if I complete it. It has been an honour to serve under you, Hokage-sama."

"You've served me well. Now leave."

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A month has passed since the mission in Nami no Kuni and Naruto's team has completed another 3 C rank missions. Aside from the experience they were gaining from the missions, they didn't stop training. Shino had his first kill in the first C rank mission when his team had to take care of a bandit camp. Hinata has become very competent and quite confident as well. Kurenai had no reason to not be proud of her students. Thus, without any qualm she nominated them for the chunin exams. This brings us to the present situation.

Team 8 was standing in a corner of the waiting room where the teams entering the exam were supposed to gather. Naruto watched as the Suna team entered and with that the oppressive atmosphere of the room doubled, if not more. He thought back to his encounter with them. The redhead definitely had him on the edge.

**Flashback**

Naruto and Haku were returning from their training session with Anko when they came across a peculiar sight. Konohamaru was being held up by a Suna shinobi while a kunoichi was just standing there as if she was bored. Udon and Moegi were scared and were crying while Haruno was just standing there and arguing with the shinobi. He also saw that Uchiha was also standing on a building on the side of the road while the Suna shinobi was about to hit Konohamaru. He gave a subtle nod to Haku and she disappeared while he made his presence known by leaking out a bit of his KI at the Suna shinobi which made him pause for a moment.

"Oye Konohamaru, why is it that every time I find you, you're about to get your ass kicked and then I have to save you. Are you a fucking princess or something?"

"Ni-chan" said the brat. Suna shinobi just ignored Naruto and was about to hit Konohamaru, or he was just trying to pick a fight.

"I will advise you not to do that. Even though the brat is quite an annoyance, I kind of like him."

"Oh! What are you going to do about that, you tree hugging shinobi wanna be? Pft! Konoha shinobis are really weak." said the Suna shinobi. Naruto kept on advancing towards them without taking the bait.

"That's funny coming from you. If I remember correctly, didn't Konoha whip Suna's ass the last time we fought and you ran away with your tail between your legs? If it wasn't for Sandaime-sama's pity Suna would have been wiped out instead of nursing its wounds due to the alliance he formed. And, who said that I'll be doing anything?"

The Suna shinobi was literally shaking with fury and was about to chuck Konohamaru into the wall and rush towards Naruto when suddenly he was stuck in the arm and leg with several senbon needles. Before he could even register that his arm and leg were not responding, the senbons changed into water which changed into ice, thus freezing his arm and leg while Konohamaru became free. While this was going on the kunoichi was about to move when she felt a kunai pressed against her neck and her eyes widened in shock to see the same blonde was standing behind her and she didn't even sense him. Meanwhile the real Naruto sent a kunai sailing into the trees just behind the Uchiha when someone shunshin'ed right next to the frozen Suna shinobi. Naruto found out that it was a redhead who seems to be the third member of the Suna team and was definitely dangerous, if his teammates' expressions were anything to go by. He didn't even care that the Uchiha's eyes were wide due to the fact that he was unable to sense the redhead.

"It is not polite to stay hidden in the trees while your teammate is trying to create a ruckus. Let aside the fact that you're guests in our village and this behaviour is quite inappropriate on your part, your teammate was about to assault the grandson of the Hokage. The repercussions would have been quite severe."

As Naruto was talking to the redhead, Haku landed beside him and checked on Konohamaru. Meanwhile the Suna nins' eyes widened as they took the new intel into consideration, well at least of two-thirds.

"You're an embarrassment to Suna, Kankuro. Picking on a kid and then losing to the other shinobis. I apologise for his behaviour. Kunoichi-san can you release Kankuro so that we can take our leave." said the readhead and turned to leave. Immediately Naruto's bunshin poofed out and he realized that he was pierced by something in the back.

"My name is Sabuko Gara and I hope I see you during the chunin exams, Konoha shinobi."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm sure you will."

**End of Flashback**

Team 8 paid no attention to the theatrics of the other rookie teams until they heard Uchiha asking someone about Gara, Rock Lee and Naruto. Information on the first two was impressive however, Naruto's name was confusing to Chouji and Ino as none remembered him being anyone of importance while Shikamaru just seemed bored. The information given by the older Konoha shinobi was even more confusing as all he said was that Naruto was just about average till he became a genin and then suddenly his performance sky-rocketed. His jounin sensei was Yuhi Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist and Naruto's skill in that particular area was actually known to be the least impressive.

There was a slight altercation after that which was easily taken care by the examiners for the first part of the exam. Naruto was aware of Morino Ibiki's reputation and knew that there will be some or the other catch in this exam. His teammates were competent enough but they already decided to follow Naruto's lead if something out of the ordinary happened. They breezed through the first part and were surprised to find that Anko was the proctor for the second part of the exam.

Naruto's team didn't have any problem with the second part as well due to several reasons. They were strong, obviously. Naruto was quite familiar with the forest of death. Hinata's byakugan was simply too good to avoid any teams or find them. Shino's kikai bugs were amazing for creating a trap with a forest full of weird wildlife. Their team reached the tower just an hour later than the Suna team after witnessing Gara's slaughter of the Ame team.

The exam wasn't as uneventful for some others. Uchiha was given a hickey by Orochimaru. This brings us to another important event that took place.

Anko was standing in front of Orochimaru. She knew that she was not strong enough to take on Orochimaru and thus was very cautious. After meeting with the brat, she found someone she loved and thats why she wasn't hell bent on taking revenge all by herself. Her suicidal tendencies have been curbed quite significantly by the blond brat. That's why she had back up and a surprise for the snake bastard.

Anko was also aware of the fact that Orochimaru wasn't at full strength due to some reason and was also trying to escape without alerting anyone of his location. Regardless, he was happily trying to rile her up. They had an intense taijutsu fight which she easily dominated to find that she was fighting a tsuchi bunshin. Orochimaru emerged from the shadows and made a hand sign and she felt searing pain in her cursed seal, like someone shoved a kunai in it but that was it which shocked the bastard as well, which let her deliver a sharp blow to his arm. The bones of his forearm shattered but he regained his composure and delivered a brutal kick to her face while snakes came out of his right hand and pinned her to a tree.

"How did you overcome the curse seal, Anko? Tell me and I may just make your death painless." hissed Orochimaru. Even in obvious pain, Anko smirked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, teme. And please, don't try to sweeten your words. I know you will make it as painful as you can. Though, you don't have much time as you can guess I've only been stalling you."

Orochimaru was really pissed and was about to take out kusanagi to decapitate Anko when several senbon needles pierced his uninjured arm to make it useless. He did avoid the ones heading for his neck and jumped back. He noticed an ANBU appear beside Anko and hissed in frustration. He gave a final death glare to the two of them and went into the ground as he sensed several strong chakra signatures heading towards his location. Anko sighed and was just happy that Naruto's seal worked. He had already explained that it wasn't possible to remove the seal as the evil chakra has hooked into her core. However, he came up with a seal which only recognized her chakra and thus ensured that the evil chakra and Orochimaru's chakra is blocked. Naruto said that this seal might have many more uses but she didn't give a damn about any such crap.

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The preliminaries were going on as well as can be expected for Naruto's team. Shino fought some Oto shinobi, Zaku, who was already quite banged up and Shino most probably terminated his shinobi life prematurely. It was time for Hinata's match and coincidentally it was against that obnoxious Suna nin, Kankuro. All the members of Team 8 heard Hinata's cousin's hateful words of discouragement, something about her being a failure. Hinata just ignored him though her eyes narrowed, however her cousin did feel three distinct KIs directed towards him and they did put him on edge.

As Hinata landed on the arena floor. so did her opponent. Her opponent said something about teaching her a lesson to send a message to her teammate for humiliating him. Now, Hinata is generally not the aggressive one but her cousin has been trying her patience for quite some time. As her confidence soared with the help of her team, so did her resentment towards who tried to put her down. This Suna nin was just someone who broke the camel's back and now she just wanted to rip him a new one.

While her opponent was feeling good about himself by taunting her, she was already halfway towards him with chakra in her hands and delivered a junken strike to his sternum while activating her byakugan at the last moment. Her opponent flew a couple of feet and landed with a thud. With her byakugan flaring, she wasn't fooled.

"Are you a cross dressing girl, that you like to play with dolls. You are even using make-up. Disgusting. Get up, you're not fooling me rather, I'm the worst opponent for you." said Hinata with annoyance in her voice.

Kankuro got up a little confused about how she was aware of his puppet and snarled at her for calling him transvestite with the wrong gender to boot and even made fun of his war paint. She even called his puppets, dolls. As he used Karasu to attack her, Hinata gracefully avoided every projectile while deflecting others with a kunai. Before he could react she was next to him and was already through with severing his chakra strings. Then all he felt was intense pain all over his body as he heard his opponent say "**Hakke Rokujūyon Shō**"

"I could have killed you but I am sparing your life as Konoha nins aren't as pathetic as you." said Hinata after she closed his tenketsus.

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Many people were surprised by the outcome of Hinata's match. Their surprise was at the entire change of Hinata from a docile and incompetent kunoichi to someone so strong. This was clearly seen on the face of two Hyugas standing in the stands. Her cousin, Neji just scoffed and turned away while the other guy was glaring daggers at her. Hinata told her team that he was Hyuga Han, a member of the main branch and grandson of a Hyuga elder.

Finally it was time for Naruto's match. Till now all the three Hyugas, Uchiha, Shino, two Sabaku siblings, Nara Shikamaru and an Oto shinobi, Dosu Kinta have qualified. Naruto's match was against Inuzuka and his pet. Inuzuka was happy as he was up against some no name average guy. During the fight at the bridge he was already unconscious by the time Naruto jumped in to help him and Uchiha. He paid little heed to Hatake's warning as he was by nature confident and rash. Also, he had a bone to pick with Naruto for threatening him and his team.

"I'll advise you to quit now when you can as I am going to enjoy beating you to a pulp, Uzumaki." said Inuzuka while Naruto simply ignored him.

"Standing there ignoring me with your holier than thou attitude is pissing me off. I'm warning you, I will not hold back and neither will Akamaru. Right, Akamaru?" continued Inuzuka and the pup barked his agreement. Naruto still didn't say anything and was simply waiting for the proctor to begin the match which he did in only a few moments.

As soon as Hayate said Hajime, Naruto disappeared from Inuzuka's view and the next thing Inuzuka knew was that we was on course to flatten himself because of a blow to the back of his head and he could see stars. It took him couple of moments to get himself together and on his feet.

"I thought I'll wake you up from your day dreaming. So, you were saying ..." taunted Naruto. Inuzuka also became serious and fed Akamaru a soldier pill. Then Inuzuka used Akamaru for **Jūjin Bunshin**and both of them together used **Shikyaku no Jutsu** to increase their abilities as Inuzuka decided to go all out.

Inuzuka threw some smoke bombs and then both of them started attacking Naruto by using their claws. It was a sound plan but Naruto didn't give them the chance and simply used **Fūton: Daitoppa** to blow away the smoke and disperse his attackers as well. Inuzuka growled and said to Akamaru, "Lets go Akamaru!" Both of them started running towards and in mid-air started spinning when Inuzuka shouted, "**Gatsuga**".

Even though Naruto was a little surprised but was able to avoid both of them easily but they were relentless. Then, Naruto jumped in the air and created a kage bunshin. Inuzuka thought of this as the golden opportunity as Naruto will not be able to dodge in mid jump. He and his dog attacked from opposite side while Naruto and his bunshin were speeding through hand seals. Before either of the **Tsuga** could reach its target Naruto whispered but Inuzuka heard due to his enhanced hearing, "**Fūton: Renkūdan**" and two air bullets collided with the two Tsugas. Inuzuka was able to withstand it but lost his moment and the impact was painful. However, Akamaru was down for the count.

Inuzuka shouted "Akamaru!" as he was worried for his pet and then turned his angry gaze towards Naruto and his bunshin and growled, "I'm going to kill you for what you did to Akamaru."

Naruto sighed and said "You've lost your cool and now you're without your partner. I will advise you to forfeit now before you seriously get hurt." It was all for naught though and Inuzuka just charged towards his bunshin first. What he didn't know was that Naruto already replaced it with **Bunshin Daibakuha**. However, Naruto didn't want to injure a konoha shinobi seriously so he detonated his bunshin before Inuzuka could get in the inner radius of the blast. Even then Inuzuka sported a lot of burns on his torso and was flung into the arena wall which knocked him unconscious. Naruto won the match without even a single scratch.

After the preliminaries were over, and match up for the finals was decided through chit picking and the participants were told that they have a month to prepare. The final match up was

Nara Shikamaru vs Sabuko Temari  
Aburame Shino vs Kinta Dosu  
Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuga Neji  
Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Han  
Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabuko Gara

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Shino and Hinata told Kurenai and Naruto that they will be training with their families. Naruto however asked Hinata and Kurenai to meet him at their regular training ground in two days time as he needed their help with something. When everyone was leaving Sarutobi asked Naruto meet him in his office the next day. Naruto reached Sarutobi's office as requested.

"Ah Naruto-kun, I've been waiting for you. Unfortunately we will have to wait for the third person. Your match yesterday was very impressive. I'm sure you will make chunin without any problem."

"Arigato jiji. I am hoping that I become chunin this time as you may have been aware that I've a standing invitation to join with the ANBU and I'm vey much interested in it."

"Ah yes, when the ANBU captain came to me to inquire about you, I knew that something like this would happen. Anyways, the person we have been waiting for is here. Come in, Jiraiya. We've been waiting for you."

"Sensei, I've come as you asked me to and I've already submitted my report. What do you need me for now? I've important research to do." asked Jiraiya even though he was aware of the reason he was standing here. The reason for his visit was standing right beside him. Looking at him brought a pang in his heart as he was almost the picture copy of his dear student. Jiraiya thought may be he will get to know the gaki.

"Ah yes, sorry to waste your important time. The fruits of your research are very enjoyable after all. Anyways, Naruto-kun this is Jiraiya of the Sanin and my student. Can you please let Jiraiya examine your seal as he is an accomplished seal master. He will just confirm what we already know that it is working perfectly fine."

"As you wish, hokage-sama. Jiraiya-sama." said Naruto to show respect which he couldn't find in him. The fact was not lost on the other two occupancts of the room. Sarutobi sighed as he knew that Naruto had a very strong dislike for his godfather for abandoning him. Jiraiya didn't know the situation and thought maybe Naruto was just irritated because of the seal in question.

"There is nothing wrong with the seal Sarutobi-sensei. No need to worry about anything, gaki." said Jiraiya after examining the seal and tried to reassure Minato's son.

"I was not worried at all. Anyways jiji, I need to go and work on something for the finals. I will see you later." As Naruto was about to leave Jiraiya stopped him.

"Oye gaki, congratulations on advancing to the chunin finals. You want to learn a cool jutsu. I can teach you a lot of cool things." asked Jiraiya thinking that every genin just loves to learn a cool jutsu.

"Why would I want to learn anything from _you_? I don't need _your_ help with anything." said Naruto heatedly and left with a shunshin surprising Jiraiya even more. Jiraiya was confused and turned to Sarutobi.

"What was all that about sensei? i thought he would be happy to learn a cool jutsu." asked Jiraiya and Sarutobi sighed.

"Jiraiya, he knows who you are _to him_ or rather what you were supposed to. He grew all alone and resents the fact that his godfather abandoned him"

"But ... you told him about Minato? You realize how dangerous it can be if the information somehow leaked?'

"I told him _nothing_. He already knew everything rather you will be surprised to know what all he knows. Minato was two steps ahead of everyone. He left him letters and stuff. No, I can't tell you how and what Minato did as Naruto asked me not to. If you want to know anything you've to ask him and I can't help you with that. Just don't think that it will be easy.'

"Fine, I'll just go and ask the gaki himself." said Jiraiya with determination and left through the window.

"Good luck with that." muttered Sarutobi to no one. 'I'm getting too old for this shit.'

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**A/N:** Finally! phew ... i'm sorry for taking so long. also this chapter may not be upto the standards but was necessary to get to the next phast. from here on the real story is gonna start. again i dunno when i'll be bale to update as i hardly have any time. chao.


	8. Imperfect Heroes

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto .... blah blah blah !

A/N : Hey folks. Loooong time. I know. Stupid things happened. Was almost through with the chapter somewhere in January but was sent on site for work and didn't get time to access the site for some time. Didn't realize that it had been two months and lost the entire chapter :( Have been really busy since but have finally written a HUGE chapter. The actual chapter content is **12,600** words. WOOHOO! Now, few replies to the reviews.

**Orpheus Thanatos Messiah:** Hey, I dunno if I cleared it up or not but Naruto knows so much about the political ways due to two reasons. He has Minato's notes from his time when he held the office of Hokage. Secondly, Kurenai coached him up a little. Also being close to Hizuren, he was able to pick up few things.

**LadySerenity0000:** Your question is answered in this chapter. The seal is important for the plot involving the Hyuga politics.

**cruel vamp:** I've tried to make the situation a little funny but it pretty much turns serious as you can see, I've tried a darker tone to my story.

**firelordeg:** Thanks for the suggestion. Incidentally I was already thinking of giving a recap as even I go back to see what were the salient events in the stories I read, when there is an update after a long gap.

**The Greatest of These is Love:** No issues dude. I completely understand that you have your own things to take care of.

**Vaanarash:** I realize that it was a plot hole, not mentioning anything about Hyuga Han's team. Lets just say that I needed him for some situation which will be made clear in this chapter. Also, let us assume his teammates either forfeited before the preliminaries or one of them lost to him.

**Cheese lover Tobi:** There will be no Naruto/Hinata romance.

**Spiritwolf32:** Finally, I can't keep on saying sorry to you for not being able to update frequently. Just read your pm and I can understand your frustration. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

**RECAP:**

**Chapter 1:** Minato asks a favor from Bunta to allow Naruto to summon Kichi with only blood as sacrifice till he is six.

**Chapter 2:** Introduction to Naruto's lonely life and his first meeting with Kichi.

**Chapter 3:** Naruto receives help from the seals Minato put on him and a letter from Minato. He moves into his apartment and faces the villagers' hate for the first time. He received a heavy beating on his fifth birthday. He starts deceiving the villagers in order to obtain food and avoid being hit.

**Chapter 4:** Naruto joins academy but after the first year decides to downplay. Sarutobi catches him in the act, also finds out about Kichi and so, he is apprised of the real situation out there. Spans through the years as Naruto trains and acquires the help of Anko-chan to help him along. Naruto makes his first kill. He saves Konohamaru from Mizuki after being tricked by him. He also reads the final letter from Minato where it is explained that he is a jinchuuriki.

**Chapter 5:** Naruto is assigned to Team 8. It shows how the team grows together. His team gets to know about his treatment by the villagers. He works to find a solution for Anko's curse seal. Received first C-rank mission which was to Nami no Kuni but not to protect the bridge builder but meet with a contact of Sarutobi. The contact was being pursued by Kiri shinobis and died during the fight. Contact gives an incomplete message about an alive Uchiha and someone's aim to capture the bijuu. Found a seal on Hinata's head. Assigned another A-ranked mission to support Hatake's team. His first glimpse of Haku.

**Chapter 6:** Naruto's interaction with Haku immediately feeling a bond due to their similar past. Team 8 approached Gato's hideout where Naruto left to help out Team 7 at the bridge. Naruto fought with Haku and found her identity. He thought back at the poverty and inhumane condition living in the village and was enraged enough to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra. Zabuza died along with Gato and Haku came to Konoha.

**Chapter 7:** Council meeting in which Kurenai took Namikaze seat as a proxy and told the council to lay off of Naruto and Haku. Naruto met with Danzo and was offered to join Ne. He was also approached by Yamato/Tenzo (sorry, if you hadn't made the connection yet) as an ANBU Captain to join ANBU, if he can become a chunin first.

Now, let us get on with the story.

**Imperfect Heroes**

Forget and forgive. Wise men preach to treat the aforementioned words as gospels to lead a life without any regrets. However, he will never abide by them. He has never been, nor will he ever be a saint and even then he was satisfied, to a certain extent, with his existence. He could be all hung up, with the shorter stick, the life left him with but looking beyond all the shortcomings of his life, he missed only two things. Family and love. Perhaps one day he will find both, probably not. Lately this line of thought always brought a hazy picture of the most beautiful woman to his mind. Shaking his head to tear himself away from his dreamworld he brought himself back to the cruel world of reality. He did smile a little at the thought that thinking about Haku could even rid him of all the negative emotions he was having due to his meeting with _that_ man.

As he approached their usual training ground, he was mesmerized with the view in front of him. He has always been aware of the fact that Haku was an excellent kunoichi, most probably better than him if one disregards the advantages he has due to the hell spawn sealed inside of him. However, the shear beauty of the way the water was dancing around Haku was amazing. Such feats were simply beyond him. Even more stunning was the fact that Haku made manipulating water, to such a degree, look like a simple task. Sitting there at the centre of the lake with water dancing around her in beautiful patterns, as if the mother nature, herself was caressing her with affection, she never looked more beautiful.

As soon as he stepped on the water to get to her, she opened her soulful eyes and gave him a beautiful smile. He was unable to remember if his heart had ever beaten faster. He calmed the storm in his traitorous heart as he approached her and within moments both of them were bringing the other one up to date about what happened in the Forest of Death. He was shocked to learn about Orochimaru's presence in the forest but was relieved to hear that both she and Anko were alright. The fact that his seal worked perfectly, brought him a sense of accomplishment and confidence in what he was going to do tomorrow. Nothing gold can stay, as the saying goes, their pleasant meeting was disrupted as someone entered the training ground. As soon as he realized who has actually interrupted them, his good mood was long gone.

"Ho ho ho! Already have a pretty bird with you, gaki? Who is your beautiful friend, Naruto?" asked Jiraiya.

"Who is he, Naruto-kun?" asked Haku but didn't get any answer. She didn't ask again as she was sure that whoever this man was, Naruto wasn't pleased with his presence.

"Keep your lecherous eyes off of her and leave. No one wants you here. Moreover, how the hell did you find me?" asked Naruto already losing his cool.

"Give me some credit, gaki. I'm Konoha's foremost spy-master. Your chakra signature is like a beacon and with my skill at sensing chakra signatures, it was a simple thing." stated Jiraiya in a mocking tone, ignoring the former part of the statement. Naruto cursed his lack of chakra control, under his breath.

"Regardless, what do you want?"

"Show me some respect, gaki and maybe I'll think about teaching you some cool jutsus. I'm a Sennin after all." said Jiraiya smugly thinking that any teenager will jump to an offer like that. Haku, on the other hand was stunned to realize that the old guy standing in front of them was the Gama Sennin Jiraiya.

"I don't care who you are and I don't want to learn anything from you. Just leave me alone."

"Come on gaki, I'll even consider to teach you your father's prized jutsu, Rasengan. It is a very difficult A-rank jutsu. Don't think that it will be easy but with my help ...." trailed of Jiraiya as his expressions changed from confident to gob smacked as Naruto simply held both his palms towards him with two perfectly formed Rasengans. Haku's mind was racing at various possibilities this small information brought.

"But ... h .. how can you know that jutsu?"

"Tou-san left me with the instructions. Thankfully he erred on the side of caution than rely on you." said Naruto with quite a bit of disdain in his voice.

"Okay! I wasn't sure if you will be ready for this but if you can do Rasengan then I'll let you sign it." With that Jiraiya did a few hand seals to summon the guardian of the Gama summoning contract and began doing his ridiculous dance on top of the said toad to make an impression. He was sure that this will get the gaki's attention. Well, sad to say such ambitions were quickly squashed when the said toad leaped towards Naruto and Jiraiya crumbled on the ground in an ungraceful heap as he was not expecting any such thing.

"**Yo gaki! Why haven't you summoned me to battle for you yet? Going by young Kichi's words, you have been having quite some fun lately. Don't think Kichi hasn't told everyone about your new girlfriend too. Ho ho ho, according to him she is quite a looker too. For a human, of course. By the way, name is Gama. Call me anytime, everyone has been singing your praises young one. By the way Jiraiya, if you trouble him, Gamabunta-sama is gonna kick your butt. Ja ne.**" said the departing toad. The gama clan loved Jiraiya but his failure to be a godfather to their youngest summoner has become a sore spot.

The toad didn't care that he left the three people with different thoughts. Naruto was cursing Kichi and Gama both, for opening their big mouths and blushing about what was said in front of Haku. The said girl was also blushing at the toad's words but her embarrassment was drowned by the realization of who Naruto actually was. Jiraiya was plain and simple, stunned. His eyes were wide with disbelief and mouth was opening and closing with no sound coming out. Naruto finally took pity on him.

"I've been summoning Kichi since I was 3 and started summoning the others some time later when I was able to access my chakra. Tou-san asked Bunta-sama to spare the requirement of chakra for me till I reach the age of 7. Regardless, as you can see I don't need your help with this either, just stay away from me. I have been able to survive till now without my godfather's help, I'm sure I can do without you after today as well." Haku was just getting as numb as Jiraiya with the information overload.

"But ... b .. but I can help you with ..... Hirashin. Yeah, that is it. Obviously I am not privy to the actual mechanization behind it but I'll help you with the seals. Please Naruto, give me a chance." said Jiraiya as he was finally grasping at straws.

"Sigh! Look, Hirashin can only be done by someone with an affinity for Raiton (Lightning) chakra while I have a Fuuton (Wind) affinity. It has something to do with lightning always trying to streak towards a conductor; however the choice between different conductors is facilitated with the help of seals. As for the help with seals, as a seal master you must be aware that seals only provide a set of rules while the remaining is up to the person to experiment and achieve. Though, I cannot deny the fact that you are a seal master and it will be foolish on my part not to take a second opinion from you for possible solutions. I already have one such seal which I will be submitting with Hokage-sama for you to look over, if you wish that is, tonight. If not, then Hokage-sama is an accomplished seal expert himself. If you are wondering about my proficiency with them, then for your information, I have all of tou-san's notes and scrolls concerning with seals."

"I .. umm .. I can help you gain experience. You cannot deny the fact that you can learn a lot from me."

"That is true but with regards to that, as soon as I become a chunnin, I will be joining the ANBU."

"I know I haven't been there for you before now but let me make it up to you. Your father would have wanted this. Don't let a grudge to come .... ", but before Jiraiya could say anything more, the training ground was flooded with Naruto's killing intent. None of the occupants were affected, obviously, but it was surprising to say the least.

"Don't you dare use my father's virtue to appease me. My father was a great man but I'm not him. He may have had a big heart but mine isn't. Sure, he wanted me to forgive you but I can't do that. Of course, I hold a grudge, you ...

"I believe myself to be reasonable enough that I would have forgiven you if you had a genuine reason to abandon your newborn godson at the mercy of these pathetic excuses for humans. But no, you just took off and left a child who recently had Kyuubi sealed within him disregarding the fact that he may require your help to survive this hellhole. You had time to publish your disgusting literature but you didn't have time to take a look at how I was doing. How difficult it was to take out an hour while you were in Hi no Kuni or actually submitting a report to Hokage-sama.

"No, you were content with fucking whores, writing smut and shirking away from your responsibilities. Do you realize how difficult it is for a 3 year old boy to tell a hateful caretaker that somehow he requires more food than the other orphans or how difficult it is for him to learn to read and write on his own, all the while trying to acquire the necessary books and materials for doing the same. While you were wasting away your nights on the silk sheets of a brothel, there was a 5 year old going around looking in trash cans to find something to eat because no shopkeeper wanted to sell anything to the village pariah.

"Do you have any idea how the psyche of a young boy is affected when everyone looks hatefully towards him and all children are told to not to associate with him. What is a boy to think when everyone around him tells him that his father was a traitor who left him or that his mother was a demon fucking whore who got what she deserved to spawn a demon like him? Where were you when a 5 year old boy was beaten nearly to death on his own birthday? Isn't it a godfather's duty to protect his godson?

"So, you are damn right I hold a grudge against you. Now, you have the audacity to walk into my life after so many years thinking that I will be dazzled by a sennin who offers to teach me flashy jutsus. Well, you can go back to what you have been doing as I don't need you in my life. Just leave me the fuck alone" After a long tirade Naruto just turned to leave but stopped where a stupefied Haku was standing.

"I'm sorry Haku-chan that you had to see that. Generally I try not to whine like a bitch." said Naruto with a forced smile. "I know I have kept certain facts from you but presently I'm afraid I'm not in the correct mindset to explain the tragedy that is my life. I'll see you later ... ne?" Haku nodded wordlessly as she didn't know what to say but did give him a comforting smile and squeezed his arm affectionately.

Haku looked at the defeated sennin and was filled with mixed feelings. On one hand she felt like obliterating him for leaving Naruto-kun like that. This belief got stronger due to her own experiences with cruelties of life in Kiri. However, her own helping nature wanted to comfort the broken man. Finally she sighed and addressed Jiraiya.

"What you did is unforgivable. I don't know if Naruto-kun will ever forgive you but you _are_ his godfather. You are his only living family who actually cares about him, however insignificant that feeling may be for you. Those of us without any family realize how truly precious a family is. So, may be if you are persistent enough, you may crack his shell. Good luck with that. Though, if you hurt him any further then, sennin or not, I'll kill you."

* * *

As Haku was walking towards the training ground the next day, her face was completely flushed thinking about the events of the last night. Later in the evening the previous day, Haku and Naruto met on the training ground for a spar so that Naruto can have a release to his anger and also so that she could comfort him when required. During their spar, Naruto apprised her of his life and all her conclusions of the morning were confirmed. She felt pity for the situation with the fox and anger towards the villagers. All that was well and good but the blush was due to the events at the end of their spar. By the time their spar ended, their anger was spent and all that was left was the comfort of the other person's company.

The spar ended with her being pinned to a tree with Naruto's one arm across her shoulder blades, keeping her in place. They were both out of breath. Their faces were flushed. Their hearts were beating really fast. Their eyes were glued to each others. She could feel his warm breath on her lips and it was making her body tingle in a strange way which she had no experience with. For the first time she realized that their bodies were pressed together that not even air could pass through. She realized that she was getting light headed and her gaze involuntarily drifted to his lips and she licked hers, absentmindedly. The fact that Naruto started speaking in a very throaty voice just drowned her further into this inexplicable feeling of allurement.

"Arigato, Haku-chan. You have no idea how much you've helped me. I really needed all of that to be drained out of me. I must have done something really good in this life or the past to deserve you." she wasn't sure whether the lack of specifics regarding him deserving her as a friend or something more was done deliberately or subconsciously. This only made her mind go a lot fuzzier and her heart beat even faster. She didn't realize but her response was in an equally husky voice.

"It's not like you haven't helped me too, Naruto-kun. I feel I'm the lucky one here after what happened ... ", before she could complete the beginning of the depressing statement, Naruto stopped her.

"Shhhh! Haku-chan ..." Naruto shushed her and she gasped a little when he started caressing her cheek lovingly (?) with the back of his fingers, all she could do was lean into his touch. It had been years since someone showed her affection and she realized how much she has missed this feeling of love. She finally understood what she was feeling and it scared her a little but after living a life like hers, she craved for it even more. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that the distance between their faces was decreasing and she didn't have a clue if she was leaning into him or was he.

"You're so beautiful, Haku-chan" she heard him murmur and then there were fireworks. Their lips met softly and warmth spread in her body. As they separated very slightly to realize what has occurred between them, the time wasn't enough to comprehend anything. Her first kiss lead to a more loving second one, a much longer one. Somewhere during that time her hands found their way to his hair and his to her waist. As the psychedelic experience ended, their foreheads were touching and their bodies were tingling and both could only mutter the word 'wow'.

The next few minutes were spent in equally pleasurable displays of affection and loving caresses. The night ended with Naruto leaving her at her apartment with a last chaste kiss, which only held promises of many more in the future. By the time she was lying down to sleep, her mind caught up with her and she blushed prettily. She slept with a smile on her face, after a very long time.

* * *

Naruto was standing on the training ground with Kurenai and Hinata. Shino was busy training with his family but was already aware of what was to happen here. They were waiting for Haku while Naruto informed them both that he has told everything to Haku. Though, while he was telling them about yesterday Kurenai didn't miss his wistful sighs. She smiled to herself thinking that the two of them had come to terms with their feelings and she was happy for them. This was confirmed due to the goofy smile which came on Naruto's face for an instant when Haku came into the clearing and there was definitely some hue on Haku's cheeks for her to see.

"Now that Haku-chan is here, I'll begin. As you all know I've been trying to come up with some way to help me with my problems with genjutsu, I've finally made a breakthrough. Kurenai-sensei, just for confirmation sake, can you explain the theory how someone can be affected by genjutsu?"

"Ok. Genjutsu takes effect when a shinobi enters his chakra into another shinobi's system and then attacking the brain with the same chakra. Similarly it can be broken if someone else disrupts your chakra, if you are not capable of doing the same. Now, chakra enters the coils through, primarily, tenketsus on the body however, shinobis with doujutsu can do the same by entering their chakra directly through your eyes. Similarly, other senses can also be used to enter their chakra into another shinobi's chakra system. Although, this is still only in theory, as I am yet find a technique where sense of smell or taste have been used to attack with genjutsu. Theoretically, it is possible to do even that."

"Arigato, Kurenai-sensei. Now Hinata-chan, please activate your byakagun and mark all the tenketsus on my body and my clones will take it from there. I've modified the seal I used on Anko-chan so that it works as a valve. The seal hooks into the tenketsu and uses my chakra signature to reject any other chakra to enter the tenketsus. The risk, that I may require chakra infused into my body due to chakra exhaustion, is removed due to the seal used to prison the Kyuubi."

Kurenai didn't miss the blush on Haku's face as Naruto rmoved his clothes so that Hinata can begin marking the tenketsus. It was a tedious job but was completed in half an hour. Two kage bunshins immediately got down to put the seals with Hinata directing them to correctly hook into the tenketsus. As the work kept on progressing, Kurenai's and Haku's eyes kept on widening and by the end of it, there was complete shock on their faces.

"Naruto-kun, your chakra signature has, for a lack of a better term, disappeared. It is as if you aren't even there. How is that possible?" asked a disbelieving Haku.

"Seriously? Wow, I never thought that this can be a side effect. I cannot deny that it is a very welcomed one, what with my chakra signature being so easy to track. I don't know why this would happen, though."

"Naruto, is it possible that your seal is working as a two-way valve?" asked Kurenai.

"Obviously, I thought I'll open the valve only when I need to use chakra .... oh!"

"I see you've realized. Every human being releases a particular amount of chakra continuously. This released chakra is also what shinobis with sensing capabilities hook on to track other shinobis. As a shinobi's control increases, he can suppress the amount being released to be not noticeable. I will advise you to keep at least few tenketsus open so that you do not strain your chakra coils before you discuss this with some medic nin."

"Arigato, Kurenai-sensei. Before we try if the seal is working for the genjutsus, I want you to try and close one of my tenketsus, Hinata-chan." As soon as Naruto finished speaking, immediately the other three came to realize the implications of that. Thus, it was found that as the seal rejects any chakra besides Naruto's, juken was completely useless to close his tenketsus, however a Hyuga can still hurt his internal organs by chakra.

"Now can you try few genjutsus on me to see if the seal is working properly, Kurenai-sensei?"

Kurenai began with D ranked genjutsus and moved up to the strongest A ranked ones which she had in her repertoire. The group was ecstatic to find that Naruto was totally unaffected.

"Now comes the hard part. Hinata-chan, remember when I asked you to be as proficient as you can be in the anatomy of eyes and ears with the help of Haku-chan? You've already watched how to apply the seal when you were directing my bunshins. I want you to use that experience and knowledge to literally carve the seal around my eyes and ears and directly hook the seals to the chakra paths behind them. The ink used in the previous seals had my blood mixed in it, as you carve with your chakra, that requirement will be fulfilled and I will activate them with my chakra. The only difference will be that you will be the only one who can use sight or hearing based genjutsus on me. Don't worry about hurting my eyes or ears, as my healing abilities will take care of them. Just to be cautious, do it on one eye and wait to see the result so that I don't lose my sight or hearing completely, if something actually goes wrong ... ne?"

Hinata was very nervous to do something like this but after repetitive persuasions by Naruto, she relented and got down to work as Naruto's bunshins held him down. Haku and Kurenai were really worried throughout the process while Hinata carved the seal around one of the eyes. The entire group took a collective sigh of relief when Naruto assured them that his eye was working perfectly. The process was repeated 3 more times. They cannot make sure if the seals are effective or not as no one knew sight or hearing based genjutsus but they prayed that he never finds himself in such a situation when he requires these seals.

"Arigato Hinata-chan. I would have never been able to utilize this seal without your help. Now Hinata-chan, I've asked you to observe how and when your chakra is affected by the seal on your head since we returned from wave. With your observations, I've concluded that it is a three part seal. The most dangerous part allows the user to completely destroy your optical lobe at his whim; it is the only part which has always been inactive, obviously. The second part allows others to disrupt your byakugan, as mentioned by you that you felt your control over byakugan faltered during your clan spars. The final part is the one which has been affecting you for the longest time, this part has been affecting your pituitary gland and thus has been causing hormonal imbalance in your body. Your smaller height and confidence issues have been due to the latter one; however the last one is the combined result of the last two with the emotional abuse that you have been facing.

"Thankfully you have come out of your shell, so to speak. My seal matrix has been approved by Hokage-sama and Konoha's seal master. Only foreseen issues which I believe will occur are the ones when your body will get accustomed to a properly working pituitary gland. Haku-chan will give you a regular check up to ensure that you are coping well with it. Let's get on with it."

It took Naruto an hour to complete the preparations and once he activated the counter seal, Hinata experienced an intense pain at the back of her head but after a minute she was fine. All that was left was to shock and unveil the culprit.

* * *

The month before the Final stage of the Chunnin Exams was the best of Naruto's life. His relationship with Haku brought peace and happiness to his heart. The passion he felt when they kissed or even held each other was intoxicating. As for preparation, he started on wind manipulation. Also, now as Anko was relieved of being the proctor, she was available for full out spars. He always appreciated the experience gained through these spars. All was not well though, as he found out when he was called to the old man's office.

"Ah Naruto-kun, how are the preparations for the final exam going on?"

"As well as can be expected, jiji. I've started with the fuuton chakra manipulation training. It is coming along well. Also, sparring with Anko-chan and Haku-chan has been very helpful."

"Yes yes. And how is dear Haku? Is everything going smoothly between you two, Naruto-kun? I'm glad you finally found someone but please remember that it is too soon for me to become a great grandfather."

"JIJI! Please at the least try to refrain from corrupting me. We're very happy with what we have at this moment." said Naruto indignantly. After a few more laughs at Naruto's expense, Hizuren got serious.

"Naruto-kun, I have a very important mission for you."

"Your wish is my command, Hokage-sama."

"What I'm about to tell you is not to be disclosed to anyone else. This information is only for jounins as only they can be trusted to not cause a panic. Konoha will be invaded at some point during the final exams and we cannot make any strange movements to tip our hand that we know this." said Hizuren shocking Naruto.

"Then we must immediately cancel the exam."

"No. Cancellation of the exam will give a wrong message to the world, that we are not capable to defend our village. Also, this presents us with an opportunity, which has eluded us for quite some time, to neutralize Orochimaru for good. You may or may not have realized but Konoha has grown, if not weak then complacent. Iwa and Kumo have been increasing their military strength while we have been enjoying the relative peace. Numerically, we are back to where we were before the Kyuubi attack but Iwa and Kumo always had a larger military force. We always had better quality of shinobis. At this moment however, our forces are not as sharp as they once were, they have been dulled due to the lack of war.

"Primary bulk of the military force is always made of chunins. Jounins are the elite and thus fewer. It is this bulk which needs to realize the cruelties of war and remember that there will always be a war at the horizon. Ambitions of few men result in the death of many and that is truth of life. No, Konoha needs the invasion to ensure that it will be strong enough in the future to defend itself. We have strayed from your mission though.

"The moment the invasion begins, you are to ensure that Konohamaru reaches the safety bunkers. I'm not asking this as a personal favor but if a grandson of a Hokage gets into the hands of our enemies, it will be a political disaster for Konoha. You are to report to Umino Iruka, he was an ANBU before he joined the academy, and assist him in anyway. I will not be able to spare extra forces as everyone else will be busy with other duties and we cannot tip our hand early by making any sudden changes. Usually the academy teachers take care of the students but this time it has to be an exception, as I know Orochimaru will try to use him as a hostage. I know you're strong enough to take care of this, I've faith in you. You can leave now."

"As you wish Hokage-sama" As Naruto left he didn't hear Hizuren's parting words.

"Take care, my boy. I'm not sure if we will meet again. Now, even though I've changed the protocols and other things, how was it so easy for my foolish student to infiltrate the village. There is something really wrong with this situation." Hizuren muttered to himself. There was a knock at his office's door and a figure entered.

"Ah come in, Danzo. We have a serious security breach to discuss about." as soon as he said that, if it was possible, Danzo's countenance became even sterner.

* * *

**_Day of the Final Exam_**

The stadium was filled to the capacity and the crowd was howling with excitement. The first match's participants were facing each other off. Everyone was at the edge of their seat as the first match was a very promising one. It was a match between two members of the same clan, Hyuga. Bets were made in the favor of the male participant as the general notion was that the heiress was a shy and timid person. What the crowd didn't know was they are in for a surprise and each match will be more exciting and unbelievable than the other.

"You know, I have wanted this for a long time, Hinata-_hime_. How can the heiress of the strongest clan of Konoha be such a weakling? I am going to enjoy destroying you. All you will do, is bring shame to Hiashi-sama. What will dear Hanabi-chan think?" Hyuga Han was so conceited that he didn't even have his byakugan activated. He was so confident in Hinata's vulnerability that he has already assumed himself the victor. That is why what happened next was the biggest shock of his life, rather it was a huge shock for the whole of Hyuga clan.

Hinata was getting irritated with Han's diatribe and she was already quite pissed off because of the seal on her head. Due to the change in the hormonal balance of her body, she had become very aggressive. So as soon as the moron started speaking she has been trying to restrain herself from bashing him to death. The moment he uttered Hanabi's name, all bets were off. She did blindingly quick hand seals and stomped her foot on the ground. Han's shrieks of pain when a solid slab of earth rammed him in between the legs were like music to her ears. He was lying down holding his privates and was gasping for air.

"Do you have no honor? You want to spit on our pride that you will resort to jutsus?" said Han as he got up gingerly.

"Jutsus are tools like juken. There is no pride in death. A shinobi should use anything and everything at his disposal to attain victory. I will show you the true evolution of Hyuga. If you're so worried, I'll not use any jutsu. I don't need them to show how futile and unnecessary your existence is. That one was just to stop your irritating monologue. Come Han-san and show me your might."

What followed next was an intricate dance of juken strikes. Han and every other Hyuga were astonished with Hinata's proficiency as they have always seen her failing at everything. What will happen next, will shock them to the core. Hinata started using kicks in the intense fight. It was a little unorthodox but nothing special. The shock came when she started delivering juken strikes with her foot. It was unprecedented. No one has ever done that.

"Why are you so shocked Han-san? Didn't I tell you that I will show you the evolution of Hyuga? This idea was presented to me by my teammate. What did he say, yeah ... 'The gentle fist is so predictable, why don't you _kick_ it up a little?' Who is the weakling now, Han-san"

Han snarled and did a specific seal but was shocked that nothing happened.

"Was that seal meant to do something? Maybe make me lose control of byakugan? I always had my doubts but now you've confirmed them and that too in front of such a big crowd. Everyone responsible for the crime of putting a seal on the heiress of the Hyuga clan will be dealt with. Unfortunately for you, you will be the trigger of it all. Do not worry, you will meet your family soon enough."

With every word Han's face was becoming white with terror. He knew he was screwed. His only hope was that the proctor will stop Hinata from going overboard. What he didn't know was that Genma didn't want to interfere with the affairs of the clan and that too when the heiress was involved. However, no one was prepared for it when Hinata delivered a palm strike to Han's forehead, immediately killing him on the spot. The entire stadium was shocked to see a shinobi die in the first match itself.

"Treason will be dealt with swiftly." said Hinata and left the arena.

By the time Genma declared her the winner, she had already reached the waiting area. Naruto and Shino just nodded at her. Everyone else was stupefied. The next match was announced and Shino and Dosu made their way to the arena. With the arrival of next two participants, the crowd came back to their senses. However, the tense atmosphere flooded with heavy KI of the Hyuga section was suffocating for the others around them. Everyone was wondering if there is going to be a civil war within the Hyuga clan after the exam.

Shino adjusted his shades as he watched his opponent. He was prepared for this fight. There was no need for words. He was just waiting for the match to begin. Dosu was vary of his foe though he wanted to avenge his teammate, Zaku who will never be able to use his arms again. General consensus of the crowd was that Dosu will win this fight. This was due to the belief that Aburames were only proficient in tracking, infiltration and restraining prisoners. The match was started by Genma.

"I'm going to kill you for what you did to Zaku. What's faster, my sound or your disgusting bugs?"

"It is a futile dream. Logically your techniques will be ineffective on me. I will advise you to forfeit now." said Shino monotonously while adjusting his shades.

Dosu scoffed at Konoha shinobi's delusion and charged towards him. He just required one hit to finish this insect. He saw Shino releasing a stream of kikkai bugs and they spread out around them. He was confused because none of those bugs attempted to come towards him. He ignored them and did his signature punch to release the sound waves to hit Shino. He wore a satisfied grin which turned into a frown when the shinobi in front of him dissolved into his bugs. He tried to sense the other shinobi but could not locate which worried him as his perception of sound has never failed him till date.

Suddenly there was movement on his right, he immediately made another swipe at the approaching shinobi but to his immense surprise, he wasn't even fazed and just back handed him. Then those bugs were crawling over him and he could not even summon his chakra. His single eye was wide with shock and confusion.

"As I said, your tricks were neutralized. You depend on your perception of sound waves but what happens when there is another source or sources creating interference." As shino said that Dosu realized the damn bugs were buzzing. "Logically, you will wonder why your primary attack didn't affect me. It is simple; sound is a form of wave and waves can be deflected. When you attacked me with it, my kikkai bugs formed a parabolic screen in front of me, so it was obvious that your sound attack never even reached my body." explained Shino calmly and Genma declared him the victor.

* * *

As Naruto faced Hyuga Neji who was standing there with an arrogant smirk as if he was above him, he felt himself getting angry at this pompous bastard. Since the day Team 8 was formed, Naruto has seen how this moron has been the bane of Hinata-chan's existence. Always harassing and verbally abusing her. Naruto remembered how much time it took for the other members of their team to help Hinata-chan gain some confidence. He is going to teach him a lesson in humility.

"You should forfeit. Fate has decided my victory. With Hinata-_sama_ as your teammate, you can only be a loser like her and have no chance of winning against me. Even if she won her fight, she is still a loser."

"I hate bastards like you. People like you who think they are all high and mighty, and think that only they have suffered in life. Fucking hypocrites, you people don't realize how much your words and actions hurt others. Just because your father decided to be a martyr, there is no need to be an emo bitch."

"Don't you dare to assume that you know about my life. What do you know about pain? Our fate is sealed the day we are born. You are fated to be a loser. I was fated to have a seal and to be oppressed. Even though Hinata-_sama_ is the heiress, she is fated to be a weakling."

"That is it. Proctor, start this fight and make sure that he quits at the right moment or I will kill him." Genma started the fight and jumped clear from these hostile fighters.

"I am not as pathetic as you, so I'll not show others the weaknesses of your _great_ kekkai genkai, as it will not be beneficial for Konoha but just to humiliate you, I'll not even move from this place. Beat me if you can, son of Hizashi, the martyr and fate's bitch."

Neji was infuriated with this lowlife's disrespect and immediately rushed to deal with this insect. However, you don't get to do everything you want in life. Similarly his advent at his opponent's position was halted when suddenly he had to evade the attacks by five kage bunshins. He closed one bunshin's tenketsu when he overextended himself and went to finish off the second one. What he didn't expect was to be kicked in the face by the first bunshin. He slid down couple of feet and took few moments to get back on his feet. He was shocked to find that the bunshin wasn't dispelled. He was aware of the fact that a juken strike would usually be enough to take care of a kage bunshin.

"What is the matter mesuinu-chan (mesuinu == bitch)? You can't even get rid of one kage bunshin and I've got four more standing there. Come on, what happened to your Hyuga genius?" mocked Naruto.

Neji left the mystery for some other time and decided to simply blow off the irritating bunshin's head. After few tries he was successful. He realized that Uzumaki's bunshins were quite quick. During the time it took for him to dispatch one bunshin, three others had now surrounded him. Without getting any respite, he saw with his byakugan that they were each doing identical hand seals. He tensed as all three ended with tora and sucked in a long breath. He knew what was coming and didn't have any other option but to jump straight up to avoid the three fireballs as he didn't want to reveal that he knows Kaiten.

He immediately had to fight the fourth bunshin which had jumped in the air above him, anticipating his course of action. Before he could deliver a strike to the bunshin, he saw the bunshin smirk and glow a little. He immediately knew that this will be dangerous for him. He brought up his chakra shield, first step of kaiten to dampen whatever was coming. He heard the bunshin say **Bunshin Daibakuha** and there was huge explosion. The chakra shield did dampen the damage but he was rocketed back to ground and was momentarily blinded. His clothes were singed and he had first degree burns. He righted himself before he could crash into the ground. When he will think about this fight in the future, he will realize that Uzumaki detonated the bunshin way before than necessary for maximum impact. He will realize that he was spared by Uzumaki and that will hit him hard.

Within moments of landing, he realized that he will have to use Kaiten to avoid another three way blast of **Katon: Gokakyou no jutsu**. As he struggled to maintain the Kaiten, he was astonished to see the chakra being used by the bunshins to do the jutsu and the duration for which they kept it going. By the time they let it go, he was on his last leg and already had second degree burns on his hands and numerous blisters on his body. He was almost out of chakra and dropped down on a knee due to exhaustion.

"Yare yare, how the mighty have fallen?" he heard one of the clone mutter before he was punched in the face. His body was racked with pain as it was launched towards another bunshin almost parallel to the ground below and his thoughts became fuzzy. He was brought back from the land of nod when he was kicked in the back and he was launched high in the air. His flight was stopped midway when he was kicked hard in the face and he crashed to the ground. The last thought before his world went black was that for the first time in his life, he faced a complete crushing defeat.

The crowd, the proctors and even the kages were all shocked with the brutal fight. Even more astounding was how the byakugan was rendered completely useless. The judges were the most impressed by the fact that Naruto only showed two weaknesses of the Hyuga clan, superior speed and numbers, sadly for all the shinobis it was a moot point as these were already well known.

* * *

The next match was between Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari. **(A/N:** This match goes exactly the same way as manga till the point Temari is captured. Only how she is captured is different as this time there is no hole created by Naruto.**)** Temari watched as she was moved from behind her fan without any control over her body. She was turned left and she saw what lost her the match. There, just two meters from her, was the slab of earth that the Hyuga girl used to teach a lesson to her clansman. And it was casting a long shadow due to its position with respect to the sun, which gave that insufferable Nara boy's shadow a boost. This whole time, her opponent was driving her to be positioned near this slab of earth. How far ahead did her opponent think?

"Mendokuse. Even though I know that troublesome blond will nag at me but I quit."

"WHAT?" This was what everyone was thinking. **(A/N:** The same thing as manga follows.**)**

* * *

**(A/N:** Sasuke's fight with Gaara also follows the manga.**)**

Naruto was rushing through the village towards the shinobi academy. As soon as he felt the genjutsu being applied, he turned to leave but was stopped by Shino.

"Take care, Naruto." Seeing that Naruto was about to ask what Shino was talking about, Shino said while adjusting his shades "I've already told you that one of my friends is always with you. It is obvious that it will apprise me of such an important thing. Also, our clan hive is a good source of information."

Naruto nodded and with a parting word to Shino and Hinata to take care, he was out of the stadium. He observed that the Konoha shinobis were already fighting with Oto and Suna shinobis. He hoped that he wasn't too late. He became apprehensive if he was already late, so he summoned Kichi.

"Kichi, report."

"**As soon as the explosions started, I took the three kids and asked them to hide in the store till you come for them. They were a little skeptical but as they knew that I'm your summon, they didn't argue. The teachers have already mobilized the students but before you summoned me I saw at least a dozen Oto shinobis approaching the academy.**"

"Thanks Kichi. Any idea what the explosions were about? I didn't have the time to investigate."

"**I am not sure but I can smell the stink of hebi summons. There are at least two of them ... no, make that three and most probably they are in the direction of the village gates.**"

"Thanks again Kichi. Dispel yourself and tell Gamahiro-sama that I will most probably require his assistance. I don't want to summon Bunta-sama unless it is really necessary. Go." Kichi didn't argue. He understood that delivering this message is more important than him fighting alongside Naruto.

It took Naruto another couple of minutes to reach his destination. He didn't waste time and threw a kunai embedding it into the forehead of a shinobi who was about to attack Umino from behind. By the time the others realized what was happening, he had already disposed of four more shinobis and there were only two more remaining.

"Uzumaki-san, a group of shinobis have already gone ahead inside the academy. Take care of them while I deal with these two jounins." said Umino with a nod. He didn't say it but he was appreciative of the blonde's help.

Naruto didn't even stop to acknowledge the order as his first priority was to complete the mission. He saw a group of six shinobis moving towards the building. He made one kage bunshin and jumped high above the group. His bunshin threw several shurikens followed by **Kage shuriken no jutsu**. The two shinobis in the back didn't even have a chance to defend themselves but the remaining four were able to deflect the remaining shurikens. However, they were not prepared for the original Naruto who was descending on them with a kunai in one hand and **Kaze no yaiba** in the other. The kunai was driven into the skull of one while the wind blade cut another like butter. Pivoting on the momentarily rigid body of the shinobi with kunai in the skull he decapitated the remaining two.

Without stopping he planted his foot on the ground, he threw his pivot in the coming storm of kunais and shurikens from his right from where a group of three shinobis were advancing at him. He had seen them when he was in the air. There was another such group on his left. They must have separated earlier to widen the search grid. During this time his bunshin covered his flank by going behind the group on the left. Immediately he summoned an earth wall to surround him which was impacted with various weapons and jutsus. He made a bunshin and himself went under the ground using **Doton: Shinji Zanshu no jutsu**. The bunshin jumped in the air for misdirection and was immediately dispelled.

Naruto emerged behind the three shinobis on his right and immediately buried kunais in the necks of two of them. Before the third one could react his fate was also the same. The other three were also taken down by his bunshin. He surmised that this group must be mostly made up of chunins and genins. He sent the bunshin accompanied with two more to take care of any other Oto shinobis around while he himself went to pick up Konohamaru and company.

As soon as he met the group, he made two bunshins and each grabbed onto one of them. They used **Shunshin** to reach the safety bunker. He left them there with a command to stay put and follow the orders of the jounin in charge. There he also got to know that the group transferring the academy students was attacked and a sensei and few students could not escape. He didn't have much time to react as he had to go back to check on Umino.

* * *

Meanwhile in the stadium, Hatake, Asuma, Anko and Kurenai were defending against the Oto and Suna shinobis. They were discussing that they could not allow Uchiha to go after the Sabaku siblings alone. So, with Haku in command and Pakkun as guide, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru and Chouji were sent to retrieve the Uchiha and to capture the Sabaku siblings, if possible, alive. Shikamau and Shino broke off from the group to take care of the group of Oto shinobis following them. They were the perfect choice as Shikamaru would hold them in place while Shino drain them of their chakra. Hinata broke off to take care of Kankuro as she was the perfect choice to defeat him.

When Haku and Chouji reached at the place where the Uchiha and Gaara were fighting, they saw that the Uchiha was about to be smashed. Chouji immediately made his arm huge and swatted away Gaara. If it would have been anyone else, he would have died but Gaara was in his miniature Shukaku form. Haku could feel the taint of yokai from Gaara and she became worried. She knew that she will have to take care of him as quickly as possible.

Taking advantage of the fact that Gaara was disoriented because of Chouji's unexpected hit Haku immediately reached his position with a burst of speed and gave him a palm strike to his head. She avoided the swat from the sand covered hand and drove a kunai at the base of his neck. Unfortunately the kunai was stuck in a thick layer of sand covering Gaara's body. However, this time she could not avoid his tail from striking her and she was sure that she broke couple of ribs as blood came out of her mouth and she landed next to Chouji and Uchiha. Uchiha was seething that he was saved by the loser and _that_ kunoichi. Chouji gave her a smile.

There was a massive boom which was due to the exploding tag that Haku had stuck to Gaara's forehead. Gaara's body was blasted further away but the sand armor absorbed most of the blast but the sand was falling from his face and he was definitely disoriented. There was a second boom, this time it was due to the exploding tag which was hanging from the kunai that Haku struck Gaara with. As the tag was dangling over his back, most of the impact was absorbed by the armor there but Gaara was down for the moment. Haku took a breath of relief and checked herself and the Uchiha. Uchiha didn't have any chakra to be of use.

Their respite was very short lived as Gaara started laughing crazily and summoned more of Shukaku's chakra and redid his miniature Shukaku form. Before Haku could react she saw a spear of sand about to skewer her and her last thought as she closed her eyes was that she will not be able to see Naruto one last time.

* * *

Naruto shunshin-ed to Umino's last known location and found that he had already taken care of the jounins but was injured. He gave his report about ensuring that Konohamaru was safe and was asked to go help somewhere else if he can. As he was about to leave, he saw that a villager and his family were about to be killed by a group of 3 shinobis. He took care of two of them as they were busy with their fun. The third held the man as a shield and asked Naruto to stop or he would kill the man. To which Naruto replied with complete nonchalance.

"Go ahead and kill him. I don't care about him. He has hated me all my life. I have no obligation to save him; rather I'll quite enjoy doing it myself. Though, you will lose your shield for sure." What the shinobi didn't realize that one of Naruto's bunshin was already behind him who killed him while Naruto said, "Then again, why should I give you that pleasure?" The villager was looking at him relief and disbelief at the same time. The look changed to one that of pain, as Naruto's bunshin kicked him to the ground.

"Don't think I saved you because it was my duty, teme. I just didn't want your kids to be orphaned. That kick was to make you remember the time you kicked me when I was young and helpless. I hate people like you who take me for granted. Don't ever assume that I will save your life out of duty anytime in this lifespan. Even if you try to complain to Hokage-sama, I'll simply say that you were trying to use the invasion as an excuse to harm me. Do you think he will believe you or someone who just saved his grandson's life? You should rather think what would I've done to you, had I been the Kyuubi?" With that he kicked the downed villager again and left, leaving a whimpering but introspective man behind.

* * *

Naruto took to the top of the buildings and took a look around. He had a bad feeling in his gut when he saw a purple box on the top of the kage box at the stadium. He prayed that jiji was okay and looked around to see where he can help.

He could see that there was still two hebi summons left. He could see Jiraiya riding on top of Gamaken towards the one at the South gate. He thought that Jiraiya must have taken care of the one at the East gate. So he went towards the one at the West gate. As he neared to his destination, he realized that this particular hebi summon was a three headed one. He landed on the wall surrounding Konoha next to Morino Ibiki who himself was standing next to a crumbled section.

"It seems you're having some trouble with the hebi summon, Morino-san." stated Naruto.

Ibiki raised an eyebrow as he saw the boy standing beside him, recognizing him as the one who Anko has been praising nonstop. If the situation was not serious, he would have laughed that the gaki had a lot of balls to come and talk to him like that. Was the boy foolish enough to mock him or did he actually think that he can help the situation in some way? He scoffed thinking that genins these days really had inflated egos.

"I will advise you to go somewhere else to help and don't waste my time. I'm not in the mood to entertain whatever delusions of grandeur you have. As you can obviously ascertain that this is not the time."

"I know that the situation is dire and I don't intend to waste your time. I will lend you a hand to take care of this summon and then I'm sure that you can easily decimate the remaining forces. Such a high level of summon can only be taken care by another one."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow again in disbelief, thinking that surely the gaki didn't just claim that he can summon someone capable enough to take care of the three headed monstrosity in front of them. Before he could reprimand the brat, the gaki had already jumped high above them. He just sighed in disappointment, thinking that Anko will be inconsolable after the gaki's death. Though, what he saw shocked him to the core.

Naruto jumped high above everyone before Morino could chid him. He understood that even he himself would also not believe someone who makes such a claim. As he reached the apex of his jump, he bit his thumb and swiped his summoning seal. He gathered the required chakra and summoned Gamahiro. A huge toad with two swords strapped to his back appeared just below him and started falling. Gamahiro was prepared for something like this due to Kichi's warning and Gamaken being summoned just moments ago.

"Gamahiro-sama, it is an honor to fight along with you. I hope you don't mind taking care of some hebi trash?"

"**Don't worry gaki. I've been waiting for some action.**" said Gamahiro. He unsheathed a sword and threw it at the centre head. The hebi summon was caught totally offguard when a huge sword was burried, pinning the centre head to the ground. The other two turned upward to look at who attacked them and saw a huge toad descending on them. They futilely tried to evade but couldn't move as the sword was still pinning the centre head.

Before it can dispel itself, Gamahiro landed with a webbed foot holding one of the head to the ground while he had already decapitated the other with his second sword. The hebi summon dispelled itself with haste in order to save the other two heads.

"**Hmph! Those hebi temes are bloody cowards. Ho Ho gaki, young Gamakich was correct that you have been having some fun lately.**" stated Gamahiro with amusement in his voice. The shinobis present below were stunned to see the hebi summon neutralized so easily. The Suna shinobis were almost wetting their pants. Legend of the destruction done by the gama summons during the Third Great Shinobi War were still fresh in their minds. They didn't think twice before retreating. Oto shinobis, who were in the front line as they didn't want to expend their chakra for the summoning, didn't have that luxury and were under heavy fire of Konoha's counter attack.

Before the toad summon could dispel himself, there was a huge explosion of chakra towards the jungle outside of Konoha. Naruto and Gamhiro both looked in that direction and were really worried to see a huge demonic figure of sand.

* * *

(**With Haku and co. while Naruto was fighting the hebi summon**)

Haku opened her eyes to see why she was still alive. She saw Hinata standing in front of her. She was dreading thinking that Hinata took the blow for her. However, she was happily surpried to see that Hinata was completely fine and sand was lying lifelessly at her feet. Hinata seeing Haku's, Chouji's and Uchiha's stunned expression with her byakugan, explained how she took care of the sand.

"He has chakra infused in the sand. As I can see the chakra easily, I simply nullified its effect with the help of juken. Haku-chan, cover me and Chouji-san take your shot when you see an opening."

The fight had moved into a wide field outside of the village proper. Hinata lunged forward all the while nullifying the attacks made by Gaara. Gaara was about to send his demonic arm towards her when he had to use it to shild the kunai with an eploding tag thrown by Haku. The tag exploded, destroying most of his sand armor on his arm. He shrieked with rage and sent numerous suna shurikens towards both the kunochis.

While Hinata and Haku evaded the incoming weapons, Gaara had already sent sand along the ground making them loose their footing. Hinata was seriously low on chakra as juken was only meant to be used for closing tenketsus with small amounts of chakra, while she had been using massive amounts to nullify the chakra infused in the sand. She had to close the byakugan as she simply didn't have the chakra necessary to keep it active. She slipped on the sand covered ground and was about to be impaled by another sand spike when she was thrown aside by someone. What she saw brought tears to her eyes.

Shino used his body to save Hinata but was impaled in her place. He coughed lots of blood and knew that he didn't have much time to live. He was happy that he was able to save her. He had already tried to use his kikkai bugs to eat the suna shinobi's chakra but they were either crushed by the sand or they simply dropped down dead after consuming a little chakra.

"Hinata-chan, take care of Naruto, Kurenai-sensei and yourself. I'm happy that I was placed on Team 8. We, Aburames, do not find companionship easily and that is why I am thankful to have met you all." Hinata summoned last of her chakra to destroy the spike and took Shino's body to the side to try and help him but she already knew that it was too late.

Meanwhile, Haku used a nearby body of water to attack Gaara with a water dragon, but Gaara was already in the process of sending a huge wave of sand towards her. The sand absorbed the water and huge portion slowed down but still a portion of the wave crashed into her sending her crashing into a tree.

Chouji seeing that Gaara was concentrating on Haku and Hinata, immediately tried to attack Gaara with another huge arm in order to give the kunoichis some respite. However, Gaara after taking care of both of the kunoichis for the moment already saw Chouji's attack coming towards him. He used sand to form a huge hand to hold the incoming giant sized arm and swung Chouji, making him crash in a tree.

"Ha ha ha did you insects actually think that you can kill me? Do you think you will be able to prove my existence?" Gaara sent his sand to cover Chouji's body. Shikamaru had arrived alongside Shino and was shocked to see the destruction caused by this single suna shinobi and wasn't prepared to see Shino die. Next he saw Chouji being covered by sand.

"Chouji!!!!" shouted Shikamaru. He sent his shadow to capture the moster like figure in front of him and immediately felt the strain in holding him in place. "As if I'll let you kill him."

"Ha ha ha! You can hold my body Konoha shinobi, but you cannot hold my sand. Hehehe I'm going to kill all of you." shrieked Gaara with insane glee and crushed Chouji. Shikamaru was shocked at seeing Chouji die and hated himself for not being strong enough to save his best friend. Gaara just cackled madly.

However, before he could savor his victory, another water dragon crashed into his body and weakened his armor. Next he saw needles about to strike his face and he reflexively brought his arms to defend himself. That was all the time Haku required, who has recovered a little by then, to form mirrors around Gaara. Gaara couldn't even see as he was struck multiple times all over his body. He just used his sand to crash on the mirrors. Haku already low on chakra, didn't infuse much chakra into the mirrors and they shattered easily but she had done her job.

There were multiple explosions, one after another. Gaara's body was wracked and even his armor couldn't stand so many explosions and he was down for the count. Haku was heaving heavily. She was tired and low on chakra. And then there was an explosion of chakra and sand was rising high in the air from where Gaara's body was laid. She could only think if this would ever end. Gaara appeared in Shukaku's complete form.

"You entertain me greatly, shinobis of Konoha. I didn't plan of using this on you but I'll show you the proof and might of my existence." Gaara used his monstrous hand to hold Haku's body and brought the kunoichi towards him and had an insane smile on his monstrous face thinking about finally crushing the impudent kunoichi's body.

* * *

The ground was shaking with tremors as Naruto rode on Gamahiro to approach the monstrous form of tanuki ahead of them. Naruto sent chakra to his eyes and saw that the monster was holding Haku-chan in one hand. After the fight with Neji, followed by the fight at the academy and finally summoning Gamahiro, his chakra reserves were down to a little less than quarter. Only for such situations he had secondary seal matrix around the seal on his tenketsus.

Theoretically, it was possible to store chakra in seals but practically it was too inefficient. The amount of chakra stored in a seal cannot be more that 2 times the amount required to activate the seal. Otherwise, every shinobi would carry scrolls with seals that stored chakra for emergency. Although, there were certain, very complex, seal matrix which required too expensive a price, like one's life to store chakra. Jinchuurikis were prime examples of this. Another issue was that even if somehow a shinobi had seals with him storing chakra but how would he infuse it in his chakra coils without the knowledge of tenketsus. There was reason that chakra exhaustion was such a grave thing, as only trained medic shinobis can infuse chakra into others.

As the seal was located over his tenketsus, the second issue was a moot point for him. And with him having 361 seals on his body, even small amount of chakra, 361 times was quite a significant amount. As he released the storage seals, his reserves were boosted to almost half.

"Gamahiro-sama, please hurry. We have to stop that monster before he crushes Haku-chan. She means a lot to me." said Naruto with desperation in his voice.

"**Don't worry young summoner. I am aware of this woman's importance in your life. I'll do everything in my power to help you. You should know though, that the monstrosity in front of us is Ichibi no Shukaku. Though, he hasn't been released completely. If that happens, we must awaken the medium without Shukaku being awakened completely. Now brace yourself.**"

Gaara was too happy in seeing Haku squirm in his hand that he didn't give any credence to the tremors he was feeling on the ground. Though, when you are that big, these tremors must feel like small vibrations. Taking advantage of his distracted state, Gamahiro threw his sword for the second time in the day when he was high in the air. The sword gained momentum and pierced Shukaku straight into the chest and pinned him to the ground at an inclined position. Before he could register the sword in his chest, Gamahiro descended on him with the second sword and his full weight behind the swing. In this form, Gaara was not a plaything, and was able to move a little to the side.

Gamahiro expecting such an evasive maneuver, already had his trajectory set such that even with Gaara evading, he will still cut off the arm holding the kunoichi but he did lose that sword as well. As soon as the arm was lopped off, the sand lost its shape and Haku's body was falling but Naruto was already there to catch her mid air. He already had a bunshin ready who grabbed his arm and rotated two full circles while falling down and threw him back towards his summon. He used as little wind manipulation as he could to reduce the air resistance and landed back on the back of Gamahiro. Meanwhile was laughing madly while he took out the sword from his body and threw it back hoping to impale the huge toad but Gamahiro had been playing with swords for ages and was easily able to grab hold of his sword.

"Finally you're here Uzumaki and you have already entertained me. Mother has been screaming for your blood. I will prove my existence by killing you. I will show you my ultimate jutsu." said Gaara and used the forced sleep technique to free the Shukaku.

"**Yahoo! I'm free and I've a prey to kill. Fuuton : Renkudan.**" screeched the released Shukaku as he slammed in his belly to shoot a highly condensed ball of air towards the threesome. While Gaara was screaming Shukaku's release Naruto asked if Haku was in any condition to fight. He had already given her a blood pill and a chakra pill. Haku said that she would need a minute or two for being of any help. As Gamahiro jumped in the air to avoid the ball of air, Naruto told him his plan.

Gamahiro sent two blasts of water but was hit with another ball of air while the two balls of water were neutralized by two balls of air. He told Naruto that they will need to hold Shukaku down to wake up the medium. He evaded another ball of air but this time hit Shukaku with two balls of water. Naruto, calculating that these balls will hit the target made five bunshins and they jumped right behind the balls of water. These were raiton bunshins and with wind being his element, were his most effective source of raiton jutsu. Their purpose was simple, to stun the Shukaku and give them few moments. They worked splendidly.

Gamahiro was able to hit Shukaku with 3 more balls of water as he was completely stationary for the moment. Haku was ready for the final part of the plan and started forming seals. Naruto played his part by providing wind chakra for Haku to manipulate. Haku had water from Gamahiro's attack and with Naruto providing the wind chakra, all she had to do was to manipulate both of them using her kekkai genkai to form ice. She used the boost of the chakra pill and expended as much chakra as she could and froze the monster's one remaining arm to the elbow and torso completely.

There was no time to waste. Gamahiro smashed his sword on the frozen torso and several cracks started forming. Naruto jumped off and formed his favorite Kaze no yaiba and started spinning vertically, effectively cutting off whatever sand was being sent by Shukaku out of desperation. As Naruto was about to split Gaara in half, Shukaku was able to move Gaara's body a little to ensure his survival. The damage was done though, as Gaara woke up due to his left arm being severed from below the elbow. Shukaku's body crumpled and Gaara was looking at his arm stupidly without even realizing that he was falling. Haku was already unconscious right after completing the jutsu. Gamahiro was at his limit as well and with a parting word of praise to his summoner, dispelled himself.

Naruto was not done yet. He was determined to kill the bastard who dared to hurt his Haku-chan. With the sword of wind still in hand, he approached the afraid and frail Gaara. He swung his blade to simply decapitate him with no sympathy but his sword was stopped by a metal fan infused with wind chakra being held by Sabaku no Temari.

"Please don't kill my brother. Kill me instead. It is not his fault that he was made a jinchuuriki of an insane demon. He has known only loneliness and hatred by everyone. I've always wanted to save him and this is my first chance to do that. Please don't kill him." Temari pleaded with everything she had. Naruto was softened a little to know the fate of a fellow jinchuuriki and knew that he could have turned out like him.

Though he was still angry at him for attacking Haku-chan. On seeing that Shukaku had already healed Gaara's arm to stop the bleeding but it was left as a stump, he sighed and nodded but took out a seal from his pouch and slapped it on Gaara's forehead to ensure that he doesn't use the demon's chakra. He always kept one with him so that he can use it if the furball ever tried something like what happened in Nami no Kuni again. He didn't want the power of the demon. He wanted to gain strength with his own effort and hardwork.

Still holding the sword with one hand, he told the kunoichi that she will have to come under arrest if she wanted to save her brother. She complied without hesitation. Naruto made two kage bunshins to take care of those two and went to check on Haku-chan, without knowing that he just spared the life of the person who had killed Shino. That revelation will be heart wrenching for him and will be the first situation where he will be confronted with conflicting morals, whether to follow orders or avenge one of the few real friends he had ever had. Only time will tell what he will decide.

* * *

**A/N:** This is just some thought which came to my mind. Normal shinobis recover chakra by eating food; resting and similar things as generally human gain their strength back. Now, how does a bijuu regains its chakra once the host, say, burns off a tail's worth of chakra? Now, if the bijuu can restore chakra from the same dimensional plain it is actually bound to, then the host can never absorb bijuu's entire chakra. On the other hand, it is simple incomprehensible to think that it restores its chakra through the host's body. Any ideas?

Apart from that, as you can see from my author name, I am a huge fan of One Piece (obviously only those who read the manga or watch the anime can make it out), I was wondering what are thoughts of fellow manga/anime followers. The manga is simply amazing. Do you think that the character of Luffy will turn a little dark due to Ace's death? It is only expected, at the least by me but if that is the case I'll surely miss the carefree and moronic Luffy. Chao.


	9. The death of Uzumaki Naruto

**A/N:** Here is another chapter but before that few replies and recap. **Also, kindly note that I've modified first chapter a little to incorporate that Tsunade wasn't there during the Kyuubi's attack to help out with the story and I was finding it quite cliche'd.**

**beloveddaughteroftheking/The High Demon Lord:** Thanks for idea on bijuu's chakra as it really fitted into what I am planning.

**QundraDraconum:** I know the previous few chapters have been a little too melodramatic but after this chapter I can only think of one chapter being overly melodramatic. I killed **Shino** so that Naruto and Hinata become stronger and familiar to losing a comrade. Also, he is so difficult to write and his presence in the manga is almost insignificant. I feel the same about **Chouji** as well. He was also killed so that Shika gets his act together. With brains like his, he should be one of the major players.

**Kagekishi no Hi/Vaanarash:** I was thankful that you two agreed to be Beta for this story but sadly, I'm still posting this chapter unbeta'd. This is because I'm going home for some time and won't be able to have enough time to use your suggestions and modifications. Also, I got abused by few people, justifiably, for delaying ;-) Probably, next time if you are up for it.

**Recap**: Naruto meets Jiraiya and have heated words. He disables Hinata's seal. Chunin exams, Hinata, Shino and Naruto won their matches. Invasion happens. Naruto goes off to ensure Konohamaru is safe and thus helping Iruka, Ibiki and later joined Haku to defeat Gaara.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

The hall was dimly lit. There was an ominous silence and the person sitting in the throne like chair was exuding an aura so terrible, that most shinobis would faint in the mere presence of such a man. However, another presence disturbed the solitude of this person as a fly-trap like appendage emerged from the floor.

"You are late, Zetsu." said the man as his single sharingan eye glared through his face mask.

"Sorry Madara, couldn't be helped. **Ya, we had a lot of information to gather**." replied the bi-polar man trying to placate Madara.

"Then you better hurry up, as my patience is running low."

"Uzumaki Naruto **is dead**." said Zetsu but before he could continue further the KI in the room increased to unbearable levels for Zetsu. He was having trouble breathing. Then suddenly the pressure was gone as he saw Madara leaning back into his chair.

"Are you sure, Zetsu? I will be very displeased if this information is incorrect. You are aware of the extent to which I had to go to finally get Kyuubi sealed. If Uzumaki is really dead then why haven't we seen Kyuubi roaming around the elemental nations?"

"Since the sealing of Kyuubi, there have been rumors about the seal used by Kiroi Senko of Konoha. **It is rumored that with the death of the jinchuuriki, the Kyuubi may return to Makai**."

"Since when did we cater to rumors, Zetsu? Anyway, tell me _everything_ you know."

"From Sasori's spy, you were already made aware that during the invasion of Konoha, Sandaime Hokage perished while fighting Orochimaru. **Though, that buffoon Gama Sennin, Jiraiya killed that bastard, Orochimaru, before he could escape**. It was quite easy too as the recently deceased Hokage had somehow made Orochimaru's hands useless."

"Ya I know that, the information was good for a laugh. Orochimaru was anyways a pest, always deluding himself. He did serve his purpose, there was no point in letting Konoha regain its power. It was so easy to manipulate him. Just a subtle genjutsu and he was all ready to accomplish his crusade to destroy Konoha. In his arrogance he didn't even think that I tricked him."

"Ya well, he always had delusions of grandeur. **Anyway, we were keeping watch on the Kyuubi jinchuuriki during the invasion, on your instructions. He fought really well throughout the invasion and even eventually helped out in subduing Ichibi's jinchuuriki who gave control to Shukaku. He even crippled the jinchuuriki by cutting off his left arm below the elbow.** That will ensure that he will be easy to capture when the time comes.

"**Things got really melodramatic after that.** Kazekage's daughter begged for Ichibi's jinchuuriki's life and Kyuubi's jinchuuriki relented. **Shinobis these days are such pansies. **What happened to the good ol' days of killing your emotions?** It became even more nauseating after that.** Uzumaki found out that Ichibi's jinchuuriki killed his teammate and became enraged. By that time Sharingan no Kakashi and few other jounins had reached the scene of battle. **They had to intervene and stop Kyuubi's jinchuriki from killing off the Sabaku siblings**.

"Things did get interesting, though. **Until now, as far as we know, Uzumaki has used Kyuubi's chakra only once, during a mission in Nami no Kuni and from what we found out, it was out of anger rather than need.** The same thing happened this time but before the situation could escalate, his jounin sensei, Yuhi Kurenai slapped a seal on him to suppress Kyuubi's chakra. **He still had to be restrained physically. I like the brat, he's got guts.  
**

"Leaf shinobis were crying because two of their own died.** I tell you, it was quite a pathetic scene. After all, are shinobis not the harbingers of death?** The Kyuubi's jinchuuriki got even more depressed after hearing the fate of Sandaime Hokage.

"Though, your manipulations to get him to get out of Konoha with his godfather, Jiraiya was quite brilliant, considering the fact that he can't stand his presence. **I always wondered how you found out about their relationship, though**?" mused Zetsu but hearing a chuckle from Madara, he had an epiphany. "Itachi, **of course.**"

"Ya well, I have to throw a bone to Pein every once in a while. He has been getting restless lately and wanted to capture the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki immediately as Konoha was in a disarray due to the invasion. All I had to do, was ask and Uzumaki was assigned on a mission to accompany the Gama Sennin. Sometimes I think, I would have been really proficient in Sasori's _art_. Anyways, I was informed that Itachi and Kisame were unsuccessful"

"**It was quite entertaining.** You would have enjoyed the spectacle created by Itachi."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

**(Flashback: Just before Naruto and Jiraiya left Konoha to find Tsunade)**

**(A/N - Zetsu observed only few things as Jiraiya was renowned to be a very good sensor and it is not wise to snoop around him or in a village full of shinobis who were on full alert.)**

Past few days had been really stressful for Naruto. After the invasion, visions of Shino's dead body and news of the old man's death had been haunting him. The joy he felt when he became part of Team 8, was now a distant memory and all he could find was pain. The old man's death was even more painful. He was the first person who acknowledged him, loved him even. He finally understood how Haku-chan felt when she lost Zabuza.

He was able to make peace with all the pain only because of two people. He had Haku-chan to support him when he grieved for the old man. More importantly, he had to be there to support Hinata-chan as she was suffering even more, considering the fact that Shino died to save her. If that wasn't enough, things were getting stirred up in her clan, due to her killing a main branch Hyuuga.

He wasn't happy when he was asked by Jiraiya to accompany him to find his teammate but relented as it was an official mission. However, he will be happy to be away from Konoha for a while. Though, before he left for the mission, he decided to visit the war memorial to pay his respect to the old man and Shino. As the memorial came into view he saw another person standing there and immediately recognized him. It was Nara Shikamaru. They have never been friends but had always been cordial during their time at the academy. However, now both have lost someone very close to them. Naruto felt a strange sort of camaraderie with the lazy Nara. He sighed as he thought of the saying, 'Misery loves company'.

As he reached the memorial stone, he said a silent prayer and just stood there in comfortable but painful silence. After a while, it was time for him to leave for the mission. As he turned to leave, he stopped momentarily.

"Will you be alright, Shikamaru?" said Naruto already sensing emotions rolling off the shadow user. The silence stretched and then stretched some more.

"Fine, I guess. This settles it though, being a shinobi is too troublesome." said Shikamaru and Naruto immediately understood what he meant.

"Ahh I see. You are going to quit, like a coward."

"What am I supposed to do? I was so fucking useless. That monster crushed Chouji and I couldn't even help him. Till now there has been no situation where my intellect failed me but when that monster was killing my best friend, I couldn't stop him. I couldn't even make his death painless. What good am I as a failure?" said Shikamaru losing his composure, uncharacteristically.

"Quit, if that makes you feel better. I am sure Akimichi-san will be proud of you as you spit on his grave."

"What the fuck did you say? You bastard." roared Shikamaru and launched himself at Naruto who easily deflected his punch with an open palm and kneed him in the stomach. Shikamaru fell on the ground gasping for air.

"Tsk Tsk, what happened to your usual nonchalance? Akimichi-san died in the service of the village. He gave his life while contributing in the defeat of an enemy, due to the belief that his action helped to save few lives. You, on the other hand, are going to bitch like a woman and quit being a shinobi. While living a life of a civilian, immersing yourself in guilt and self-loathing, your inaction will result in loss of many lives, even maybe Yamanaka-san's and Asuma's. Then again, at that time you will have a very convenient excuse, you would not have been able to do anything as you would not be a shinobi.

"I'm sure Akimichi-san will welcome you with open arms in the afterlife, commending you on your great contribution in saving the lives of the people of his beloved home. I hate people like you. I had great respect for your skills and intellect, but I guess I am not the only one you've disappointed. Every shinobi loses someone or the other but we persevere. We learn to use that pain to fuel our desire to become stronger. If you feel useless now, then work harder. If you think your intellect failed you, then perhaps it is time to improve your body and shinobi skills, so that you have them to rely on as well in the future.

"I thought I found a comrade with similar pain and purpose but I was mistaken, I guess." said Naruto coldly and left Shikamaru alone believing that what he said was necessary. Time will tell if Shikamaru is all that he thought he would be.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

They have been journeying in silence for two days as there was still a lot of bad feelings in him to interact with his _godfather_. However, whatever may be the man's fault, he did kill the guy who killed the only person who ever loved him unconditionally since his birth, aside from his deceased parents. Somehow, he felt compelled to acknowledge that fact and he was not petty enough to snub that feeling. He sighed.

"This doesn't change anything between us but for what it is worth, thanks for killing the person responsible for jiji's death."

"I didn't do it for you, gaki. Sensei meant a lot to me as well and Orochimaru had it coming for a long time." the last part was said with so much venom that Naruto felt a shiver run down his body and he realized, for all his faults, the man _is_ a _sennin_ and can decimate him quite easily. He was startled when Jiraiya broke the silence this time.

"For the past decade I have spent my time trying to keep tabs on Orochimaru. That is how I came across a very disturbing piece of information. Right after he defected from Konoha, he joined a group called Akatsuki. For years I could not find anything about this group. Only when he left the group, somehow some information surfaced about it. I am still not sure if it was deliberate or not. One thing has been confirmed though, it is a group comprising of only S ranked missing nins and they always travel in pairs.

"Till now I've been able to confirm the identities of only 3 of them. One was obviously, Orochimaru. Other two are Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. He was one of the seven swordsmen of Kiri, just in case if you didn't know. What troubles me even more is the fact that there are rumors that there may be around ten such shinobis.

"You must be wondering why I am telling you about them. There is a very good reason behind it. As you can surmise that the group is very elusive and thus their aim is even more elusive. Only thing I've been able to find out is that it has something to do with the bijuus. That too is only a conjecture at this point which I've made due to few very unrelated information and certain hushed whispers.

"Without going into much details, the information supporting that thought is primarily the theft of numerous obscure Fuinjutsu scrolls from high security places which are zealously protected by their owner nations. Secondly, such thefts commenced with the ascension of Sanbi's jinchuuriki to the position of Mizukage and his successive campaign of purging the kekkai genkais of Kiri. Such significant events all in a span of a decade, right after the most elusive bijuu attacked a major shinobi village rings too many warning bells in my head.

"Anyway, I am telling you this to impress upon you the import of this information. As Kyuubi is sealed in you and if Akatsuki's aim is actually related to bijuus, then you will have to face S ranked shinobis in your future. At this point you may be able to take on a mid to high B ranked shinobi, with a little more experience. Two to three years down the line you will probably be able to face high A ranked shinobis but the S ranked ones will be beyond your reach.

"To bridge that gap, you will need at least a decade or the guidance of an S ranked shinobi, that is a fact. Ignoring all the mistakes I've made concerning you, presently I'm still the only S ranked shinobi from Konoha and Tsunade-hime will be the other if she comes back with us but her expertise is in a totally different field. Naruto, you need to be prepared for Akatsuki. I have failed you till now but I can't allow you to be left unprepared to face them. That is why, I want you to come with me on a training trip of 3 years once this mission is over and I promise, you will be ready." said Jiraiya finishing his long monologue and waited anxiously for Naruto's answer.

"For a moment, let us assume that I will be comfortable with training with you and agree to come along with you on this training trip, will your primary concern be my training? Will this training trip be to a place where you can properly train me or will we be moving around a lot? What about my career, will this trip be considered as an extended mission or will it become stagnant as far as my promotions are concerned?"

"Don't be daft, gaki! I have serious responsibilities which I can't ignore. As callous as I may appear, I have a very extensive spy network which requires constant attention. I and the village have invested too much into it to ignore it so that I can train _one_ shinobi. I agree we will be moving around but you will learn a lot. This will be a training trip, so you will need to gain experience after it for your promotions."

"Understandable and because of all these reasons I will not go with you. Before you argue, let me explain what I think. First of all, _I_ also have invested a lot in my career to let it become stagnant. I wasted a year in the academy so that the teachers there don't sabotage my chances of graduation. If that wasn't enough I had to hide my strength before I became a genin so that the council doesn't get suspicious and create further problems for me. Now, if nothing unsavory happens, I am sure I will become a chunin this time. If something does derails my prospects this time, then I will definitely become one in the next exams. The old man already approved my induction into ANBU and my career path is set in that direction. Wouldn't you agree that experience in ANBU will be much more fruitful at this point?"

"Ok I agree that ANBU experience is very good and it shapes up a shinobi to the best condition in all aspects of shinobi skills. It will however not give you the experience to face S ranked shinobis. Yes, you will become quite comfortable with danger and near death situations but that will not be enough. You will gain much more with me."

"It may or may not be enough but the trip with you will definitely not be very fruitful. Your perverted shenanigans aside, if we keep on moving from one place to another then the training will not be very fruitful. Itachi became an S ranked shinobi while he was with ANBU. Also, let us not disregard the biggest issue, that I am not comfortable in your presence, rather I am almost hostile, how do you think the training will be effective with that dynamics?"

"I will try to be serious, dammit. If it is a fact that you want then you should also note that Itachi had Sharingan which is a downright scary tool. Can you at the least try to be a little accommodating here?"

"Sigh! Look, you've to agree that I'll benefit by joining the ANBU at this point. However, I recognize that I will need your help if I want to reach the level so that I can face Akatsuki but I am not sure when I will be able to forgive you enough to learn from you. How about a compromise? You give me some time to sort out my issues while I also get an edge with ANBU training in the meantime. After which whenever you come back to Konoha, you can help me out in the training. How does that sound?"

"I can always order you to it or ask the next Hokage to do it, you know?"

"And I can always disclose my position as the Namikaze heir and countermand any such order. However, any such action will be counterproductive to what you are trying to accomplish."

"Sigh! I guess I have to work with what you will allow, though how long do you think you will need to get comfortable enough to train with me?"

"Who the fuck knows!"

"My student and sensei have perished. All I have left are you and Tsunade-hime. I just want to do something for my student's sake."

"Look, I understand and I will try at my end as well but it is not happening now. However, why don't you do something for your sensei's sake?"

"What do you mean?"

"Konohamaru, jii's grandson. He lost his parents long time back and now lost his grandfather. Asuma was never around. In the village, everyone just want to suck up to '_the honorable grandson_'. Why don't you take him on a training trip. Presently, he is green enough that you can mold him the way you think will be best for him and at the least you won't shy away from being strict. With his temperament, you can probably even make him your successor for taking care of the spy network."

"That ... is quite insightful and merits consideration."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Jiraiya finally located the other alive member of "The Sannin". They entered a bar in Tenzaku Gai where a particularly busty blond was told to be drinking.

"Ah Tsunade-hime, just the kunoichi I wanted to see. I see you have been taking care of the twins" greeted Jiraiya with a lecherous grin towards the last Senju's massive bust. The said person was so shocked to see her old teammate that she didn't send him through the wall for his comment. Jiraiya took the seat opposite to her.

"Jiraiya? What the hell are you doing here, you perverted bastard?"

"Now now hime, is that a way to greet an old friend?"

"Nothing good ever comes with your arrival. Anyways I am in no mood of wasting my precious drinking time. What the hell do you want? It better be good or it won't be good for your health."

"Sigh! You hurt me with your cruel words, hime. Anyways, all jokes aside, we have serious things to discuss."

"So, _talk_."

"Sarutobi sensei has passed away." stated Jiraiya bluntly. The black haired kunoichi who was holding a pig gasped while the only reaction Tsunade showed was slight stiffening of her body.

"So the old monkey finally kicked the bucket, huh. Took him long enough." said Tsunade nonchalantly though she felt minuscule KI but paid no heed to it.

"It was Orochimaru.", this time it was Tsunade who released a little KI and there was definitely a sound of wood splintering as Tsunade's grip on the table tightened but there was no other outward reaction by her.

"I was too late to help out sensei but I finally took care of that treacherous snake." this time Tsunade's eyes became very wide. Even after all these years, she remembered that Orochimaru's defection hurt Jiraiya the most after her sensei.

"Enough about that bastard. I have good news, hime. The village needs a new Hokage and lets face it, I am not Hokage material. So, the council has decided that who better than the last Senju."

"How the hell is that a good news, you moron? Only a fool would become Hokage. No, thank you very much. I don't want to gamble with my life. Why will I decide to waste my life for a village that has taken everything from me? Are you sure you are not losing your marbles in old age?"

"Come on, hime. There is no one apart from either of us who can become Hokage. Don't you think as the last Senju and sensei's student, you have certain responsibility towards the village?" Jiraiya dare not mention that she was of the same age as him.

"Make that fossil, Danzo, Hokage for all I care. I don't give a fuck what happens to that cursed village. It took everything I held dear. All the Hokages were fool and they died uselessly defending that accursed village."

Before Jiraiya could formulate any form of response, there was a chuckle heard and the table became quiet. Naruto started chuckling and then started laughing at the absurdity of it all. The old hag sitting in front of him was so not what he thought the great medic would be like.

"What the hell is so funny, brat? Jiraiya, who the hell is this ignorant brat traveling with you? Doesn't he know not to budge in when his betters are conversing?" Jiraiya smirked internally as he knew that Tsunade is in for a surprise. The kid was not someone who will take things lying down that too from someone who hasn't earned his respect.

"The brat, as you so eloquently stated, has a name, Uzumaki Naruto. What I find funny is that I wasted my time on this useless mission when I could be training. The thought that the council is desperate enough to consider you as our Kage is laughable. Above all, I don't see my betters. What I see is a perverted old man who is running away from responsibility and an old hag who doesn't know when to stop bitching and grow up."

Jiraiya frowned at what the brat called him but knew that he deserved it. Shizune was openly gaping at the audacity of the boy who was disrespecting two of the strongest Konoha shinobis without any concern. Tsunade was startled when she realized who the gaki was, she had already left Konoha before Kyuubi's attack but the pervert did update her regularly on the salient events concerning the village. Though, she was seething at the brat's disrespect. She couldn't believe that the gaki was naive enough to mouth off to her, didn't he know who she was?

"You better put a leash on that tongue of yours, brat or I will rip it out of your mouth. Do you even know who you are talking to? I am one of 'The Sannin' and I can crush you like a bug for taking that tone with me."

"One of 'The Sannin (3 nin)', as you put it, what does that even amount to now? You were three shinobis who faced off Hanzo in your youth and he was impressed with you all, thats it. I mean, at least the pervert here is a 'Sennin' (sage). Let us consider the traitor, Orochimaru, he was left helpless by Sarutobi-jiji when all along he was also fighting against Shodaime-sama and Nidaime-sama. Even with all the forbidden rituals and jutsus, the snake was defeated by a man who already had a foot in his grave. Then there is you. Once hailed as the greatest medic, now you are just an old drunk who likes to gamble her wealth away and thinks that if she looks 20 years old, she will become young.

"As for your comment, I am sure that Danzo-san will be a much better choice for Hokage. And I completely agree, all the Hokages have been fools. I mean, Shodaime-sama, Nidaime-sama and Sarutobi-jiji must be rolling in their graves. The former two must be ashamed of you and how you have abandoned the village. Sarutobi-jiji must be so ashamed of his students, except the pervert over here, that he must be happy to be in the stomach of the Shinigami so that he wouldn't have to face anyone in the afterlife. After all, Orochimaru turned traitor and you are so pathetically useless that I don't even want to comment. However, the biggest fool had been my father, who thought, even momentarily, that the pathetic villagers will honor his final request. Thankfully, he thought of helping his son, erring to the side of caution before sacrificing him for the sake of that rotten village. However, better be a fool than disrespecting the sacrifices made by your comrades and ancestors." Said Naruto. He disclosed the information about his father as he saw recognition in Tsunade's eyes when she heard his name.

"About you crushing me like a bug, I am sure you may be capable of that. However, the way you have been wasting away your life, can you live up to your reputation of an S-ranked kunoichi? I even doubt you will be able to defeat Hatake-san, whose skills have already dulled since he left the ANBU."

Jiraiya was shocked that the gaki could be so cold, mean and cruel. Naruto's seething comments were like slaps to Tsunade. She was already in shock and confused hearing about her grandfather and granduncle but thought to get proper details from the pervert later. The jab about her skills really stung, and she was sure it was true to a certain extent. Along the years she had been working on few of her own medical jutsus but she was definitely out of shape. She was on the verge of attacking the brat but one glare from her teammate assured her that he will not allow any such thing to happen, after all he was the brat's godfather.

"Who the hell are you to judge me? You don't know anything about me. You have no idea about how much that village has taken from me. Even you hate that village. Why do you serve it, if you hate it so much?"

"I may hate most of the villagers but there are few who I love dearly. It is the only home I have. It is the place where an old man went out of his way to look after a lonely boy. I may have lost a lot because of the village but that could have happened anywhere. The bottom line is, when I became a shinobi I accepted the fact that this life requires sacrifices and so did my parents. It has been my choice, no one forced me to become a shinobi.

"I am sure the same applies to the loved ones you have lost. I know a lot about what you have lost, specifically your brother and lover. So what? Who hasn't? Just for example, Hatake-san's father committed supeku because of the village and he has already lost his entire team in the service of the village.

"Have you considered how many loved ones other villagers have lost because you abandoned the village? How many lives have been lost because there wasn't a proficient medic? Even then villagers still say statements like, 'Had _Tsunade-sama_ been here, she could have saved him.' Those deaths are on your head.

"You may have had the talent to become the greatest medic but you didn't do it on your own. Most of your skills were learnt due to the facilities and guidance provided by the village. Do you think you would have been this great, if Sarutobi-jiji wasn't your sensei? It was your responsibility to ensure that those skills were passed on to the next generation.

"You abandoned your responsibilities and still make so much fuss. Had you not been the last Senju and the old man not been generous, there would be numerous hunter nins hounding you. So, don't try and make yourself a victim. I hate deluded self righteous people like you. Suck it up, life is not fair.

"Anyways, I don't need to waste my time here. I am going to train. Whenever you decide to head back to Konoha, send a toad to find me." Naruto said the last part towards Jiraiya.

Tsunade had been in denial ever since she left the village. She has thought of all that the brat said but her pain was always too overwhelming to acknowledge those things. However, no one has ever said those things so bluntly to her face and she was at loss about how to react to it. Even then she was a very proud kunoichi and such disrespect from a brat was grating at her nerves.

"You may hate me, gaki but you will respect me if I decide to become the Hokage." she said with a smirk.

"I will not respect you till you do something to earn it. Though I will respect the position you will hold, that is if you become Hokage, however sad that may turn out for Konoha." said Naruto and left to find someplace to train. The table was left in silence.

"You do realize that whatever the gaki said was the truth, however unpleasant it may have been." said Jiraiya which earned him a glare.

"Oh grow up, Tsunade. Sensei had to go out of his way to ensure that the council didn't create problems for you when you left the village. He had always hoped that you would return on your own, once your wounds have been healed."

"Well, he didn't know my pain." said Tsunade dismissively. Jiraiya slammed his hand on the table in frustration.

"Stop being immature and petulant, Tsunade. Sensei lost his daughter, son-in-law, successor and two of his students, one turned traitor and the other abandoned him. He may have favored Orochimaru but he always loved us as his own blood. He had a fight with his son due to him giving priority to the village. In the history of Konoha, he held the mantle of Hokage the longest and probably suffered more than anyone.

"Not only have you destroyed your own life, but you have also destroyed poor Shizune's life as well. Always on the move. Are you so selfish, that you do not see that Shizune left everything behind just for you? Dan and Nawaki loved the village. They wanted to become Hokage but above all they wanted to serve Konoha. If you can't do it for yourself, at least try to live for the two people who mattered the most in your life and one who still does."

"Jiraiya-sama! No, Tsunade-sama, I have never regretted being with you. You don't .." spoke Shizune for the first time but was stopped by Tsunade. Tsunade could not run from everything, anymore. The brat's and pervert's words were too true to ignore. She realized that all this time she had been disrespecting the memory of her lover and brother.

"No Shizune. The pervert is correct. I have been selfish and didn't think about anyone else but myself. I cannot run from the reality anymore." said Tsunade and Jiraiya smiled for real after a long time in his life.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

(With Naruto and Kichi)

Naruto had already assigned a horde of Kage bunshins to work on leaf cutting exercise and another lot to improvise on that exercise by trying to cut a rock. His control will only become better with more practice till he can move on to the next exercise when he returns to the village. He worked on his physical conditioning for some time and then summoned Kichi so they could practice some of their combo moves.

He had just been working with Kichi for around 15 minutes when memories of a Kage bunshin came to him.

"Kichi!" said Naruto to gain his attention and made a hand sign. No later than a second two very intimidating presence made themselves known as they appeared in front of the two. They were wearing black cloaks with red clouds and straw hats to hide their identities but Naruto already was on edge due to Jiraiya's warning. Also the bigger one was carrying quite a unique sword, if you could call that a sword.

"Hello Naruto-kun. We would like you to come with us, peacefully. There is no need for you to get hurt." said the smaller person while lifting his straw hat which showed his Sharingan eyes.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame." said Naruto slowly as the monster like shinobi also removed his hat and grinned. "What do two S-ranked missing nins like yourselves want from me?"

"Our organization has some use for what you contain, Naruto-kun. You should know that any resistance would be futile. I again commend you for knowing our identities and not panicking. Now let us not waste any more time."

"Ya well, regardless I don't plan to go without a fight." said Naruto and immediately avoided eye contact with the Uchiha.

Meanwhile the Kage bunshins who were earlier practicing futon chakra exercise had already surrounded the the two shinobis from the backside while the Akatsuki members simply ignored them. As soon as Naruto finished his statement the bunshins threw kunais enhanced with Futon chakra at them. Kisame effortlessly batted them all aside with his massive sword while Itachi stood impassively.

"Shall I chop off his legs, Itachi? It will be easier to take him." said the massive shark like shinobi with an insane grin on his face. Itachi simply shrugged his shoulders but Kisame knew that he would want this done quickly. Itachi was interested in how the jinchuuriki will react. Kisame saw Naruto starting to do some seals and immediately swung his massive sword to eat any built up chakra.

However, at the right moment Kichi intercepted the massive sword with the help of his metallic arm gaurds. Though it seemed he was struggling with it and then he got dispelled due to the strain.

"Ha ha! I am impressed with your summon, brat. Despite his size he was able to hold off Samehada momentarily. Now I am going to take care of you." said Kisame and swung Samehada again but at the last moment Itachi alerted him and he braced himself behind his sword while Itachi jumped away.

The Naruto standing in front of them had been an exploding clone with a little extra chakra to add more punch to the blast. This was overlooked by the two experienced shinobis as the switch took place when a perimeter clone of Naruto dispelled itself. Also, they assumed that being a jinchuuriki, Naruto will have massive chakra reserves. The original Naruto was already rushing towards Jiraiya and due to seals on his tenketsus, his chakra signature was almost negligible. He had no delusions regarding the fact that these two could kill him in a blink and he was able to escape only due to luck. He had a head start of at most 5 minutes and he doubted if that would be enough.

Meanwhile, as the blast subsided Kisame was safe due to his sword but felt a chill run down his spine. He saw that due to the surprise, Itachi was singed slightly and there was a maniacal look in the Uchiha's eyes. He really prayed that Itachi will hold back from killing the brat, because when the Uchiha gets that look in his eyes, the results were unpleasant for the victim.

"Kisame, take care of the clones but don't interfere while I teach the jinchuuriki a lesson or I will kill you." said Itachi as he took off in search of Naruto. Kisame just grinned in anticipation of the bloodbath that the Uchiha was going to create. The clones didn't even last 10 seconds.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

(With Kichi)

Kichi and Naruto have long back come up with many contingency plans and respective hand signals for them. Just before the two monsters (he couldn't think of any other word to describe those terrifying entities) arrived in front of them, Naruto had informed him with a gesture that they were under grave danger and he should escape at the right moment and get help.

So, as the shark like shinobi swung his massive sword, he blocked it and was astonished at the tremendous amount it took to hold him off for even a moment. He didn't have to fake the strain as he dispelled himself and appeared at Mt. Myoboku, his home. With utmost haste, he found Ma and Pa and told them to immediately contact Jiraiya as Naruto needed his help.

This is how he found himself, reverse-summoned along with Pa, in front of Jiraiya who was in the company of a blond lady and a black haired lady in a secluded booth of a bar.

"Pa and Gamakichi, what are you two doing here" asked a confused Jiraiya while the two women stared with interest.

"**Jiraiya-chan, Kichi here was working with Naruto when he was attacked by two shinobis in black cloaks with red clouds.**" said Pa. Jiraiya immediately became tense.

"Are your sure, Gamakichi?" asked Jiraiya very seriously.

"**Of course, I would never joke around with bro's life. Bro recognized them as Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. Fortunately for us, bro had an early warning and he replaced himself with an exploding clone and he, himself was rushing towards you. I don't know how long he will last though.**" said a worried Kichi.

Jiraiya immediately closed his eyes and stretched his senses. He found one very large chakra source and another slightly smaller right at the edge of the town. He understood that the gaki didn't want the town to get involved in what is going to be a huge fight and thus, must be keeping himself on the edge of the town. Without any word, Jiraiya rushed outside with Pa on his shoulder. Kichi knew that he didn't belong in this fight and dispelled himself, though reluctantly. Tsunade and Shizune who have just been apprised about Akatsuki, were hot on Jiraiya's heels, though each was shocked that Naruto may be facing two S-ranked shinobis. They were both impressed with his and Kichi's preparedness and prompt action, though.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Naruto had just reached the edge of town when a very slightly disheveled Uchiha landed in front of him. The moment Uchiha landed in front of him, he knew that he was screwed as the Uchiha was giving some really malevolent vibes and his KI was flooding the area, making it a little suffocating for him.

"Did you actually think that you could escape. I had no intention of hurting you but then you had to go and use an exploding clone. The mere thought that a vermin like you was able to touch me, is infuriating. I am going to break you, first physically and then mentally. You will curse yourself even in your afterlife that why did you make me angry." said an almost apoplectic Itachi. There was an insane gleam in his eyes which sent shivers down Naruto's spine and then all he felt was pain.

Itachi had elbowed the genin so hard that his sternum cracked. Naruto tried to retaliate by surrounding himself with his partially trained futon chakra but Itachi simply moved back and flicked two kunais with such force that they pierced his shoulders and got lodged there. His arms became useless. However, Itachi was not satiated, before Naruto could blink, he broke both his forearms.

Fortunately, Naruto had planned ahead and had several kage bunshins in the area. Unfortunately, Itachi was is such hyper alert mode that he was avoiding the attacks with immense ease. Meanwhile, Naruto had propped himself against a tree and was trying to dislodge even one of the kunais by jamming his shoulder into the trunk of the tree. He was in such immense pain that he didn't even register that all his bunshins were defeated.

Without any warning, another kunai pierced through his left leg. Itachi was enjoying his suffering immensely but wanted more. Then Naruto's entire body was on fire as thousands volts of raiton chakra entered his coils. His scream was having a calming effect on Itachi. As the justsu ended, before Naruto's body's thrashing could even diminish slightly, Itachi broke his left leg and Naruto howled in agony.

Itachi grabbed Naruto's hair and lifted his head, so that they were face to face but Naruto's eyes were closed and his body was still thrashing due to the electrical discharge going through it. Itachi leaned towards his ear and whispered.

"Did you learn your lesson, Naruto-kun? What you did was very brave but very foolish, though running was the obvious choice as the prey always runs away from the predator. Now, now, don't get comfortable, you still have some mental conditioning to go through. After all, I can break you any way I want as we only need you breathing. Do try to brace yourself, as the next 72 hours are going to be the most painful of your pathetic life."

However, Itachi suddenly leaped away from Naruto as Jiraiya landed next to him and a rasengan induced crater could be seen where Itachi was standing few moments ago. Pa took hold of Naruto and brought him near Shizune while Tsunade was holding off Kisame though he was only fighting half hearted as his focus was on how Itachi wanted to handle this situation. Their orders were not to engage with the Gama Sennin as he was one of the most dangerous shinobi alive.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us Jiraiya-_sama_. Just in time to save your _godson_. It seems we have to cut this reunion short. I am sure we will meet again, Naruto-kun." said Itachi, coming down from his previous high and realizing that there was no merit in facing the Sennin at this point.

"Oh you are not going anywhere. I am going to kill both of you right now." said Jiraiya as their surroundings were suddenly changing into a strange color of pink. He had already summoned the esophagus of a fire breathing toad.

Meanwhile, Shizune had removed the kunais from Naruto's body and was healing the wounds, while his own healing was taking care of the damage done by the raiton jutsu. Pa was observing the Uchiha and Jiraiya. Kisame was slightly distracted, slightly over confident of his own strength and slightly ignorant of Tsunade's legendary strength which resulted in him receiving a vicious punch in the abdomen which made him cough up blood.

Unfortunately for Tsunade, the blood landed on her face and she went into shock. Kisame was furious due to getting hit and in quite a bit of pain. He immediately charged to finish off the shell shocked kunoichi. Naruto had just gotten hold of his faculties, as the effects of the raiton jutsu were overcome and Shizune had healed the kunai wounds. As he opened his eyes, he immediately saw the danger Tsunade was in, just a few feet away from where he was lying. Pa was looking towards Jiraiya and Shizune was busy fixing him.

Without thinking and with three of his limbs broken, all he could do was use his good leg to launch his broken body to tackle Tsunade away just as Samehada formed a crater on the ground. Tsunade was even more shocked to find Naruto's bloodied and broken body on top of her. Kisame was incensed and kicked Naruto viciously in the side which lifted his body off Tsunade. Several of his ribs snapped and his body rolled several feet away.

However, Itachi immediately appeared beside him and ordered to run as Jiraiya was chasing behind them. They escaped using Itachi's Amateratsu. Jiraiya was shocked to find that the fire was able to burn through the fire breathing toad but had other pressing matters to take care of. Shizune was desperately trying to mend Naruto's broken body while Tsunade was still in shock. Jiraiya unceremoniously slapped her hard across the face to bring her out of it.

"Snap out of it, Tsunade. That brat who just saved your life needs your help. Are you going to let him die?" barked Jiraiya and Tsunade somehow overcame her fear of blood. Pa took his leave while giving Naruto a concerned glance. He was really impressed by the young summoner that even after taking such a beating, he was able to think clearly.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

It took a week for Naruto to heal completely to travel. Throughout that week Tsunade was getting up to speed with the situation of the village. Tsunade also realized how out of shape she was and was working on it. Even though Naruto saved her life, she was still miffed with the way he talked to her earlier. Jiraiya also tried to persuade Naruto for the training trip again, considering his recent run in with and utter decimation by the two S-ranked shinobis, but he still didn't agree.

It was a very tense group which entered Konoha. Shizune had been the only one who tried to ensure that all of them got along but to no avail. Naruto immediately went off to meet Haku-chan and Hinata-chan. Shizune went off to hospital to take an account of its situation as ordered by Tsunade. Tsunade and Jiraiya went to the Hokage tower to meet with the elders.

Tsunade got accustomed to the duties and responsibilities of being a Hokage. During the first few days, the only significant thing that happened was the council meeting which included the decision on who will be promoted to chunin among the few hopefuls who appeared in the exam.

There were few shouts and few suggestions to not consider the exams but Tsunade simply stated that Konoha needs as many promotions as they can have to take care of the mission load. Shikamaru and Hinata were immediately voted for the promotion while Shino was promoted posthumously, recognizing his performance during the exam and his brave effort during the invasion.

When Uchiha Sasuke's name was called for consideration, the civilian half was immediately in support of it while the proctors and clan heads found him lacking. Also, there were concerns voiced regarding the cursed seal and his mental stability. Finally, Naruto's name was called for consideration and the civilian half was vehemently protesting against his promotion, who were joined by few of the clan heads and proctors as well.

"If I may, Hokage-sama." interrupted Ibiki. "I would like to give my recommendation for Uzumaki-san's promotion. Apart from his exemplary performance during the exams, without his intervention in the battle at the West Gate, where he defeated the three headed hebi summon, using his own Gama summon, the loss of property and life would have been considerably more as compared to the present negligible one." stated Ibiki shocking many people as it was quite rare for the head of the Konoha's Interrogation department to be impressed. Many more were shocked as they were unaware of Naruto's involvement.

"I would also like to recommend Uzumaki-san for promotion." said Hatake Kakashi, again shocking everyone and Kurenai, considering his dislike for him during their mission in Nami no Kuni. "His contribution in the defeat of Ichibi's jinchuuriki was very crucial."

"I would also like to recommend Uzumaki-san for promotion." this time it was Umino Iruka. "He was responsible in saving numerous lives at the academy, especially of Sarutobi Konohamaru. Sandaime-sama had assigned him the mission of ensuring that Konohamaru is not taken as a POW. We were being overwhelmed at the academy and his timely intervention helped other instructors to safely guide the students to safety shelters."

The last two facts weren't known to many people as they were too isolated incidents. After that no one had the guts to oppose Naruto's promotion. Kurenai was pleased that she didn't have to intervene on her student's behalf.

"If I may, Hokage-sama." interrupted Aburame Shibi as the meeting was winding down and the entire council was shocked as he never spoke unless asked. "My son died saving the life of his teammate. As a tribute to his sacrifice and an acknowledgment of Hyuuga Hinata's character, my clan is honored to declare her as a honorary member of the Aburame clan."

Shibi's declaration brought sad smiles to the people gathered and many inclined their heads in respect, including Hiashi. However, many understood the deeper meaning behind it. Hiashi was internally frowning as the declaration just complicated the political situation of his clan. Aburame clan had just paved the way for a major civil war or averted one in the Hyuuga clan, as any harm happening to Hinata for killing another main branch Hyuuga can trigger a blood feud.

Tsunade already had a headache and was craving for her sake. As the meeting was adjourned and everyone left the chambers, Ibiki approached her and handed her a folder.

"Hokage-sama, my report regarding the particular individual you asked for." said Ibiki and left after giving a short bow. Tsunade opened the report and the first page itself deepened the scowl on her face.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

The next significant meeting was with the head jounin, Nara Shikaku. After discussing about the general situation of the armed forces and what possible actions to be taken, they were joined by Umino Iruka to discuss about something serious which Tsunade thought about. Iruka gave her a detailed report on the Shinobi Academy.

"Ok, so let me get this straight. Of all the children who graduated from the academy this year, only 9 actually became genin. Also, among those only one kunoichi was from a non-shinobi family background while our resident jinchuuriki was the only orphan. Kindly edify me about the reason behind this situation, if you can understand why this a cause for concern. When my team graduated, agreeably there was a war going on but we had many shinobis joining our rank who didn't have any shinobi background." stated Tsunade.

"Well Hokage-sama, after the last shinobi war ended, it was pushed forward to relax the training at the academy in order to avoid stress from a young age. It was indicated that the jounin instructor will help them along. However, the problem here is that the teams are generally passed after they show that they can work together. Most of the clan heads prefer to have their graduates on teams with graduates from other clans. Now, graduates who do not have any shinobi background do not have any idea that teamwork is so important. So, apart from being less trained, they are also less informed. So, in the present scenario only those who are exceptional get to become genin, without a shinobi background." explained Iruka.

"So, what _does _happen to all the graduates who do not become genin? Also pardon my bluntness, but out of the 9 graduates who became genin last year, two have already perished and they were from two of the prominent clans. It doesn't paint a favorable picture for graduates from shinobi background."

"The demise of those two genins was unfortunate but as you must be aware, they had to face quite a formidable opponent. Getting back to your first question, most of these graduates try to become genin one or two more times. After that they give up and take up administrative positions or take up civilian lifestyle." informed Iruka.

"Ok. This is a little troublesome. We give useless hope to all these children when they join the academy that they will be able to become shinobis but then we handicap them. Iruka, I want you to come up with a plan to revamp the academy in such a manner, that it doesn't increase the stress but improves the training of the students. Also, come up with some optional training for those who are not from shinobi background, obviously it has to be opened for everyone. This way those who are actually serious will become better prepared. Shikaku, I hope you do not mind providing your expertise to help Iruka to make the plan."

"Of course, Hokage-sama. After all it is for the future of Konoha." replied Shikaku.

"And Iruka, kindly finish this immediately and resume your previous position, we are a little short-handed. Both of you are dismissed." Iruka left with only Shukaku remaining in the room.

"So, what do you think?" asked Tsunade to no one in particular. From a corner Danzo emerged from the shadows and took the chair vacated by Shikaku.

"This is a very troubling situation, Tsunade. Iwa and Kumo have been building their military strength while we have been hurt again by this invasion. Quality over quantity is not always good. I have been sabotaging them as covertly as possible throughout the years, still it is only a matter of years before another war happens. The changes which you plan to make to the academy are well and nice but they will be too little and too late. I tried asking Sarutobi to get these reforms done long back, but he had lost a lot of political clout and was already too tired due to fighting various other battles to fight for this one." said Danzo

"I understand. What can we do?" asked Tsunade.

"I have a suggestion. It will need a lot of effort and planning. We can't tip our hand and our enemies must remain totally oblivious about this, if it is to give us an advantage. As Umino-san mentioned earlier, the graduates who do not become genin, they take up administrative positions. The point to be noticed is that most of them are disappointed and unhappy with their current assignments. These young people wanted action and glory while they are stuck with boring desk jobs. We can utilize this to our advantage." said Danzo.

"Tsunade, we have to keep this as discreet as possible. Sarutobi and I, both were incensed with the ease with which Orochimaru was able to infiltrate Konoha. We have a traitor amongst us and that too someone high up." said Danzo.

"Agreed. Can I trouble you to handle the planning?" asked Tsunade.

"I am always ready to serve Konoha, Tsunade. Consider it done." replied Danzo. As Danzo was about to leave, Tsunade stopped him.

"I am in need of your expertise in another sensitive matter." said Tsunade and Danzo simply raised his visible eyebrow. "I want you to train a shinobi for me." said Tsunade and pushed the folder provided by Ibiki towards him. Danzo quickly looked through it and stared at her.

"Are you sure that this is wise? The council will not like the fact that I will be training him, considering the reputation of my Ne."

"The council has no business with how I handle my shinobis. The cursed seal is said to make people unstable. Mitarashi was lucky that she hated the man enough to never use it while it seems he is getting addicted to its power. And I _know_ the truth behind Ne and so did sensei. What I don't understand is why you and sensei made everyone fear it? Why do you portray yourself as the evil man?"

"Tsunade, why do you think Hashirama-sama became the Shodaime and not Tobirama-sensei?" asked Danzo.

"Well, grandpa was the stronger of the two, that is why."

"Incorrect. Sensei was as strong as Hashirama-sama, if not stronger. His humongous chakra reserves, insane control over Suiton chakra and Edo Tensei made him one of the scariest shinobi. Only advantage Hashirama-sama had was his ability to suppress the bijuu. Don't get me wrong, between the two who would win, was never sure. However, sensei didn't become Shodaime as Hashirama-sama was a better leader, more charismatic. It was because of him many other shinobi clans joined Konoha.

"Similarly between Sarutobi and I, he was always the better leader. I am not denying that he was stronger as well, but our strengths were almost equally matched before I got crippled. We had our ideological differences but we respected and trusted each other above all. Anyway, we are drifting away from the topic.

"You have yet to grasp the complexity of the situation. Shinobi's life is all about deception. What I want to stress is that our ideological differences were known to everyone and so was my thirst to become Hokage. This information provided a perfect cover for Ne. Ne's reputation was made such to make me look like the evil man while Sarutobi became the benevolent leader. We played on our enemies' greed. Every enemy of Konoha thinks that I am a warmonger who wants to become Hokage and thus, they come to me to make deals of treachery. Then, Ne gets into their homes and starts destroying them from the inside while we make it appear that it is the valiant efforts of Konoha's shinobis that won the battles. Don't get me wrong, their effort is great but a significant amount of contribution is made by Ne."

"Don't worry, things are as they should be, as Sarutobi and I wanted them to be. I will take care of the Uchiha. Fortunately for us, Orochimaru is dead so he will not be able to uselessly influence him. Stay strong, Tsunade. Konoha needs your strength." said Danzo as he disappeared.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Tsunade was working on some paperwork as Team 8 entered her office. She was impressed with this team as during the academy, they were nobodies. Ironically, their team was the only one, whose all the members got promoted to Chunin. Regrettably, the Aburame kid died during the invasion. A mission outside of Konoha will be good for the Hyuuga heir too, so that some of the tensions can wind down in the Hyuuga clan.

"Team 8 reporting for a mission, Hokage-sama." said Kurenai, stoically.

"Good. First of all, congratulations to you and your students, Kurenai. Your team's performance left quite an impression on most of the dignitaries. I am sorry for your teammate's death but as a shinobi, we have to move on from such hardships and persevere." said Tsunade but couldn't meet Naruto's eyes during the last part. No one said anything and Kurenai inclined her head in gratitude.

"Now, due to the invasion, we have to ensure that other villages do not think that we have become weak. For this purpose we have to keep on taking as many missions as possible. Also, we are increasing the border patrols, just in case other villages try to infiltrate our borders.

"Border patrol missions are given to team of chunins as there is always chances of skirmishes which a genin team cannot handle. As your team is one member less, a chunin will join your team while you go to Iwa's border. To make this comfortable, the chunin joining you is someone you are already acquainted with. I believe her name is Haku. Here is the scroll with the details, Kurenai. Dismissed. Uzumaki, stay behind." said Tsunade. Kurenai and Hinata left while Naruto stood there looking at Tsunade coolly.

"We are faced with a delicate situation. You are aware that Orochimaru was impersonating as the Kazekage. It was later found out by Suna that he had already killed the Kazekage before the invasion and they were following the orders of an impostor. They want to renew the treaty between our villages. It would be prudent for us as well to renew the treaty as we will need allies to fight against Iwa and Kumo."

"Why any of this concerns me, _Hokage-sama_? I am just a chunin who is going to be following orders. Whether you form a treaty or not, isn't my prerogative."

"I am getting there, brat. Don't interrupt me." said Tsunade while gritting her teeth. "Now as I was saying, as a show of good will, they are ready for any compromise unless it is too unreasonable. Similarly, Jiraiya has improved Sabaku no Gara's seal. This concerns you because your prowess during the invasion has impressed the higher ups there. Also, somehow your battle with Sabaku no Gara has changed him. Suna has requested to have a political marriage and they want you to be the groom for Sabaku no Temari."

"So, let me get this straight. You want me to marry the sister of the shinobi who killed my teammate so that Konoha can have a stable treaty with Suna?"

"Correct. I know it is cruel to ask this of you but you know how sensei's advisers and council members are like. I doubt they will see it from your perspective, after they stop bickering about why Suna wants you as the groom." Before Tsunade could say anything else Naruto replied.

"Ok."

"I know your answer will be no ... what? You are okay with this?" asked a shocked Tsunade as she thought there would be a heated argument and then she would have to order the brat. "Just like that? What about that kunoichi, Haku? I thought you two were involved."

"She will understand the situation. After all it is for the benefit of Konoha. If that is all, Hokage-sama?" said Naruto and left when Tsunade nodded.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

The mission was mundane. Team 8 (and Haku) followed the patrol pattern provided everyday for two weeks. There were no hostile skirmishes what so ever but the team remained vigilant. It was the final day of their mission when Naruto's senses picked up multiple chakra signatures converging on their location. He immediately alerted his teammates that possible hostile shinobis were coming their way from Iwa's border. Memories of a bunshin came to him and explained that it seems like two chunin teams but they didn't have any hitai-ate.

Everyone surmised that this must be an unofficial mission to gauge Konoha's response. They were instructed to crush any such force, ruthlessly. Out of the eight shinobis, two seemed like jounins. Kurenai engaged one of them while Haku took on the other one. Naruto was assigned to handle more number of enemy shinobis.

It seemed that Naruto was becoming famous as one of the jounin recognized him and tried to engage him but was intercepted by Haku. Out of the six chunins, five converged to attack Naruto while the sixth stalled Hinata from helping Naruto. They didn't know that Hinata wasn't concerned about Naruto. Hinata made quick work of her opponent and went to help Haku as she was having a little trouble. The jounin she was engaging was able to harden his skin so her usual senbon attacks were useless. However, Hinata's juunken was efficient in making chakra attacks and they started pressing the jounin.

Naruto took care of the 5 chunin level shinobis without any problem and was about to go and aid others when he picked up several other chakra signatures heading towards them. He knew that he couldn't allow them to reach the others or they will be overwhelmed. So he took off to stall them. When he reached the enemy, he saw a group of around 25 shinobis.

He already had 4 exploding clones converging on the group from all directions. All four of them attacked simultaneously and detonated near the group. Many were taken by surprise as they didn't expect a young chunin to have enough chakra for 4 exploding clones. The attacking force was cut down to around 15. Naruto started using wide area effect jutsus like Kage Shuriken no jutsu, Katon Gokakyu no jutsu, etc. However, pretty soon they cornered Naruto. It seemed that they had at least one very good sensor type shinobi.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Since his encounter with Akatsuki, Naruto had been trying to enter his mindscape to prepare for a situation when he would have to contact the Kyuubi. So after being cornered by around 10 enemy shinobis, Naruto was breathing heavily and hiding as he was a little low on chakra. He entered his mindscape to finally ask Kyuubi to help him out in this situation. Thus, Naruto found himself in front of Kyuubi's cage. He had to admit that the demon was far more terrifying than he ever predicted.

"**Ah! My jailor has finally graced me with his presence. To what do I owe this honor, little monkey**?" asked Kyuubi with as much malevolence as possible.

"I'm in need of your assistance, Kyuubi. I am surrounded by enemy shinobis and need your chakra to fight them." replied Naruto while showing as little fear or doubt as possible.

"**Do tell, why should I help a pitiful human like you**?"

"Well, if I die then you die. What you don't know is whether you will return to Makai or will be taken by Shinigami. You can also think it as rent as you are lazying about inside of me."

"**You dare mock ME!**" roared Kyuubi giving off a huge amount of KI which brought Naruto to his knees. After some time it lessened though. "**Alright, I'll give you my chakra but you need to give me something in return. It will not be for free!**" said Kyuubi while thinking about the uncertainty of its fate in case of Naruto's demise. Kyuubi was aware that the seal used by Yondaime was quite unique. As it is the damned Yondaime had robbed Kyuubi off of half of its chakra. Kyuubi was immortal and wouldn't mind waiting some more time to get free.

"I am sorry. I will .. ugh try to improve my mindscape. After all what is the fun in living in a cage and will try to let you feel what I feel on the outside." said Naruto as he bowed a little.

"**That is acceptable, human.**" said Kyuubi and started giving a little of its chakra. What Kyuubi didn't see was the smirk on Naruto's face.

As soon as Kyuubi gave a little of its chakra, Kyuubi knew that something was wrong. Kyuubi realized that its chakra was being sucked forcefully from the seal and it couldn't stop the flow. Finally, Kyuubi found that Naruto had sucked almost 3 tails worth its chakra.

"**What is the meaning of this, human? How did you take more chakra than I allowed? What are you doing, you insect?**" roared Kyuubi but there was slight fear in its voice. Naruto started chuckling.

"Did you actually believe what I said, Kyuubi? This is my mind. I am the master here. I just needed you to open a channel to filter your chakra willingly so that I can have a feel of how you are doing it. I am a shinobi, Kyuubi. My life revolves around deceiving and using others as means to an end. I need certain people to believe that I am dead. What better way to show it than using a self sacrificing jutsu. The selling point of the idea will be the use of your chakra. It will show that I was desperate enough to even use you. I took as much of your chakra as I can handle. Humans didn't evolve to this extent by being stupid, Kyuubi. Arigato for you help. Find relief in the fact that this will help in prolonging our lives." said Naruto while waving as he exited his mindscape and easily muted Kyuubi's roar of anger and hate.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

On the outside, Iwa shinobis started feeling a malevolent feeling coming from the direction where they had Naruto crowded. Naruto was surrounded by a cloak of red chakra while there were also a tail waving behind him. Then he disappeared and started attacking his enemies. The scared Iwa shinobis surrounded Naruto but not before one was kicked hard enough that he landed 50 feet away.

Chakra exploded from Naruto's body and now he had three tails waving behind him. Then he started pulling the chakra inside his body while his body expanded a little and started glowing. Iwa shinobis became wary and one panicked shinobi shouted to ask what was Naruto doing. The Iwa shinobis were reliving a memory of Diedra when he used a jutsu which made his body expand and then explode.

"HA HA HA! We are all going to die here together, bastards. Thought you could kill me so easily. I will take you all to hell with me." shouted Naruto as his body exploded and the explosion was 50 feet in radius. The only shinobi who survived was the one who was kicked away earlier. He too was thrown away and hit his head against a tree trunk which made him quite disoriented. He made his way towards the centre of the explosion, painfully and everywhere he could only see limbs and body parts. As he reached the centre, he saw the smiling head of the shinobi who destroyed everything.

The smile was so creepy that he fell on his butt and shuffled away from the head. He got up and took off towards Iwa without paying heed to anything. He just wanted to be away from the carnage. As the scared shinobi ran off, two figures emerged from the ground.

"Very well executed, Uzumaki. Especially the part where you transferred the entire chakra of Kyuubi into your exploding clone. I am impressed." said a man who was definitely an ANBU.

"Arigato, Ookami-taicho(Captain wolf). Though, the smile you've put on my head over there is quite creepy." said Naruto as he saw the face at the centre of the explosion disintegrate into wood splinters. "Arigato for arranging this mission, taicho."

"No need to thank me, Uzumaki. It was no big deal. You are now a part of ANBU and with Jiraiya-sama backing you, who am I to question his order. After all it was his spy network who leaked the mission information to Iwa. I just helped out with the minor details."

Three people landed beside them. All three kunoichis were shocked to see the damage done by Naruto.

"As of now, Uzumaki Naruto is dead. I assume that you will be able to corroborate what happened here to Hokage-sama, Kurenai-san? Good, then we need to disappear from here, Uzumaki, as Kyuubi's chakra must have been felt by the other teams patrolling nearby. Come." said Yamato as he made his way to the route which he knew will be free from any shinobi. Naruto gave one sad smile to the three kunoichis as he followed the man.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

**(End of flashback)**

"We had already stopped the surveillance of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki since his encounter with Itachi and Kisame. **As soon as we got wind of his demise we immediately infiltrated Konoha to find complete details about it**. His team has been disbanded. His sensei has gone back to being a normal jounin while his only surviving teammate has become the Hokage's assistant's apprentice, of sorts, to learn medical jutsus.**There were few celebrations around the village as well**. Above all, information also leaked out that Konoha's peace treaty with Suna was strained due to his death, as he was supposed to be the groom for a political marriage with the deceased Kazekage's daughter. **And we know how desperate Konoha is to keep this treaty**.

"Then we tracked down the lone survivor of that mission from Iwa and extracted from him the information about what happened. **He was not influenced by any genjutsu. We checked out the site also, and there is still a lingering feeling of the demon's chakra there**. As far as we could find, the brat is surely dead." said Zetsu and quickly left as he knew that Madara was furious. He knew that all the plans made by the dangerous man were destroyed.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Tsunade has been cursing the day she agreed to become Hokage. Past month has been nothing but one disaster after another. There was no one to help her out as well. Shizune, her assistant was really happy to have an apprentice of her own. Even though she always did her duties as the Hokage's assistant, but now she had someone else to share her time with. After more than a decade of having her overbearing self hounding her, it was difficult to adjust with her sudden absence. The damn woman now had a valid, legal and what not excuse for not letting Tsunade get near any of her vices, namely sake and gambling.

Disregarding her personal difficulties, there were so many problems within the village. Shinobi numbers were low and academy standards were pathetic, though there was finally a plan to revitalize both of them. Kumo and Iwa were getting very aggressive. War was definitely on the horizon. Death of Orochimaru left a vacuum in the leadership of Oto and with half of there forces dead during the invasion, Oto was ripe for other villages to move in.

If all that wasn't enough, not only did the village recently lost the most promising chunin of the generation but he was also Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. Tsunade never thought that death of a single chunin would open such a can of worms. She didn't know how Akatsuki would react to this news. The damn brat was tormenting her even from the afterlife. His death put a serious wrench in their ongoing peace treaty with Suna. Konoha can not afford to not have any ally. Somehow the treaty was salvaged as Suna also needed it as desperately as Konoha.

After seeing the amount of destruction Ichibi's jinchuuriki was capable of, most of the shinobis were disappointed on losing a probable extremely powerful weapon to be used for showing the might of Konoha. There was a very heated argument that took place in the council meeting, in which the news was told. The fucking hypocrites were only concerned with the fact that other villages still had their jinchuurikis. However, that didn't stop them from celebrating openly in the village at certain locations.

The Namikaze heir didn't take all this kindly. The representative, Yuhi Kurenai, even embarrassed quite a number of council members when she openly accused them of having double standards. She pointed out that while in the past, those council members were always making the jinchuuriki's life hell and ensuring that he didn't gain much power but now they were unhappy that they lost their precious _weapon_.

However, that particular meeting was an eye opener. So much had been happening that she didn't realize that Kurenai has been representing for the Namikaze's heir all this time. How was that possible if the brat was dead? This realization made her seethe with immense anger that shinobis under her command have lied to her and created so many problems for her. No wonder that perverted bastard didn't express much and was happy to take his apprentice on their training trip. God help the young Sarutobi.

The only outlet to her anger left her even more frustrated and angry. Her meeting with Kurenai didn't go very well. Even under the threat of serious reprimand and demotion, all she stated was that how Namikaze clan does its business should not matter to her and that under various laws she obligated to not give up clan secrets, even to the Hokage. The only thing she let out was that all would become clear in few days.

This is how Tsunade found herself sitting in her office one evening, her hand inching towards her secret stash of sake when there was a knock on her office's door. Two ANBUs entered her office when she gave the permission to do so. One she identified as Tenjo, codename Ookami while the other had a mask with codename Byakko (White tiger) but she wasn't aware of someone in ANBU with that particular codename.

"Hokage-sama, I would like to introduce you to our newest recruit, Byakko, otherwise known as deceased Uzumaki Naruto." said Ookami but before he could continue, he was stopped by the KI that Tsunade was radiating.

"Kindly enlighten me, since when do the ANBU take in recruits without the Hokage's express permission? Your answer better be good as this little lie can cost Konoha the peace treaty with Suna." asked Tsunade with as much venom as possible.

"I apologize Hokage-sama, for not informing you earlier but ANBU has had Sandaime-sama's standing instruction to recruit Uzumaki-san, the moment he became chunin. ANBU was only following his orders." said Ookami.

"That still doesn't explain, why I wasn't apprised of this. Also, who gave Uzumaki the authority of falsifying his own death?"

"Everything has been done under orders, Hokage-sama."

"Stop playing games with me and get to the point. Who gave the order?"

"Jiraiya-sama planned out the entire mission before you were instated as the Hokage. The mission parameters were to inform you a week after the false death, in the case that Uzumaki-san became chunin." said Ookami. He knew that Jiraiya-sama did have the authority to order such a mission in case of demise of Sandaime-sama but he was also vary of the anger of the current Hokage.

"Obviously, you were _only_ following orders. I will take care of that damn pervert. Ookami, leave us. I have certain things to discuss with Uzumaki." said Tsunade and Ookami left immediately. "You have some nerve, brat. Do you realize what repercussions your actions can have? How dare you put the peace treaty in jeopardy? No wonder you agreed to the marriage so easily. You had this already planned. What is stopping me from leaking the information that you survived?"

"Is this on the record or off the record?"

"I don't care which way it is. I want you to give me a fucking explanation!"

"Off the record it is, then. I don't think morally, you are in a position to question my decision. I have made enough sacrifices for the village to do something selfish for once. And please, there will be no repercussions. Suna needs Konoha as an ally as much as Konoha wants Suna as an ally. They wouldn't dare to break this treaty for the second time because they also know that when shit hits the fan, Konoha will at the least ensure their destruction before our village is destroyed because of their betrayal.

"If nothing, my actions have bought us some more time. Akatsuki don't want to collect bijuus to keep them as showpiece. Their motives are definitely more sinister and this little stunt must have definitely put a wrench in their plans. What _is_ stopping you from from leaking this information is Konoha's own laws of disclosing ANBU's identities, as someone or the other will find out what actually happened if you do that. You also will have Akatsuki to worry about. If that is not enough and you will not entertain Namikaze clan's request of keeping this quiet, I can always resign as a shinobi and take Namikaze clan's wealth somewhere else. I doubt that will cripple Konoha's economy but I wonder due to the losses incurred during the invasion, how bad Konoha's economy will become.

"You will definitely not allow me to leave the village but there will come a time when I will be able to escape from my watchers. On the other hand, I hardly need all the wealth which is being accumulated and I won't mind helping out the village where the other clans will be unwilling to as they have to take care of their clans, primarily."

"Sigh! Since the moment I've met you, you have only given me head aches. How do you plan to move back into society once you cannot serve in ANBU anymore? How will Konoha explain to Suna about our treachery?"

"That is the beauty of this scheme, _Hokage_-sama. Konoha never lied as I will only introduce myself into society again as _Namikaze_ Naruto. Sabaku Temari couldn't have married a dead man, could she?"

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

**A/N: As it has become my habit, I apologize for the long wait. I got a little distracted with other happenings in my life. Hope you enjoy the chapter. chao**


End file.
